Curry-Spiced Noodles

Normally, I would not have made this recipe because it has a lot of ingredients. However, I recently visited by good friend, Jon, and we made some super awesome Indian food. He taught me an important trick to preparing Indian food more easily--have a well stocked pantry of spices (e.g., cumin seeds, coriander, turmeric, anise, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks). So I ended up stocking up on spices and basically had almost everything on hand to make this. It was more time intensive than most of my recipes, but it was really flavorful. I think you can save time and make it easier by doing some prep work up front (e.g., combine all your dry spices, chop all your fresh herbs and veggies).

Ingredients (makes enough for at least 4 servings)
 -8-12  oz dry udon noodles or spaghetti
- 4  tsp peanut oil, divided (I used sesame oil)
- 2  C  julienne-cut carrot
- 2  C  julienne-cut red bell pepper
- 1  C  julienne-cut green bell pepper (I forgot this)
- 8 oz  cups thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps (since shiitakes are expensive, I did 4 oz of white and 4 oz of shiitake)
- 3  TBSP  chopped peeled fresh lemongrass (see this video to prepare in slices)
- 1  TBSP  grated peeled fresh ginger
- 1  TBSP  red curry paste (I used Sriracha sauce...but 1 TBSP made it too spicy for us, so maybe do 1 tsp to start, or add it to taste in your individual serving)
- 2  tsp  ground cumin
- 1  tsp  ground turmeric
- 8  garlic cloves, minced
- 1  C vegetable broth
- 1/2  cup  water
- 2  tsp soy sauce
- 1/4  tsp salt
- 3  green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/3  C  cilantro leaves
- 1/4  C  chopped dry-roasted, unsalted cashews

Steps
1. Combine lemongrass, ginger, curry paste, cumin, turmeric, minced garlic cloves in a small bowl.
2. Combine broth, water, soy sauce, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Cut up all your veggies.
4. Cook noodles according to package directions. Set noodles aside; keep them in the cooking water so that they don't get sticky.

5. Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil. Add carrot to pan; sauté 2 minutes. Add bell peppers; sauté 2 minutes. Remove veggies from pan.
6. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; sauté for 2 minutes.
7. Add bowl of spices (lemongrass, ginger, curry paste, cumin, turmeric, garlic cloves); cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
8. Add bowl of liquid (broth, 1/2 cup water, soy sauce, and salt). Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 minutes or until slightly thick. Add noodles, carrot mixture, and green onions; cook for 2 minutes, tossing to combine.
9. Top with cilantro and cashews.