Last week I made the Noodles with Thai Basil and Peanut Pesto recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook.

The recipe is a Thai-take on an Italian pesto. The sweet basial is swapped for Thai basil and cilantro and the pine nuts are swapped for fried peanuts. It includes the usual garlic and olive oil, but also adds ginger, fish sauce, and sriracha. Kenji replaced the green beans and potatos of Ligurian pesto with long beans and fried tofu.

The end result was good, but we couldn’t really tell a difference between this and regular Italian pesto. Perhaps a heavier hand with the fish sauce and sriracha could’ve helped it better stand out. Given the choice, though, I’d just as soon make Italian pesto.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.