Pasta & Noodles

This lovely and satisfying main course uses light coconut milk, Thai red curry paste and jalapeño chili for lots of flavor and spice.

Japanese connoisseurs of the noodle hold soba, made primarily of buckwheat flour, in particularly high regard. Here the nutty taste of the soba noodles is set off by a restorative broth in which miso is a savory option. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Despite its name, this luau classic is actually a noodle dish (rice-free). At least there is chicken in it — stock as well as shredded chicken.

Although this particularly suits Chicken Paprikás , it is also a fine side dish for ham, as well as for roast beef or pork.

This lemony pasta dish is great with sesame breadsticks and a salad of sliced tomatoes and Vidalia onions in a red-wine vinaigrette. End with hazelnut cookies and a mixed-melon compote splashed with Champagne.

Here, you get an entire meal with a single, 45-minute recipe. Udon, Japanese wheat noodles with a chewy, stretchy texture, are available dried in the Asian food section of most supermarkets (along with mirin and chile paste with garlic) or fresh in the produce section. Sliced pineapple or mango sorbet would be an ideal dessert.

An Asian take on pasta salad. Soba, or Japanese buckwheat noodles, have a brown-gray color and nutty flavor.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Called pho in Vietnam, this unusual soup is a wonderful party centerpiece dish for an informal gathering. Start out by supplying everyone with a large soup bowl and a ladle. Place the soup tureen in the middle of the table. Have each guest take a generous helping of noodles first, then some meat and broth. Each serving is topped off with shredded lettuce, sliced green onion and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Spicy Szechuan dishes were quite the thing in the seventies; around that time, pasta was also coming into its own. This recipe features ingredients that are widely available in the Asian foods section of most markets. If you like, add snow peas and sliced red bell pepper for some crunch.

"Thai is my favorite Asian cuisine, and the Thai noodles at Q, A Thai Bistro, here in Forest Hills just may be my favorite dish," writes Loren Kliegerman of Forest Hills, New York. "Any idea how it is prepared?"

The combination of herbs, the rice noodles, and the garlicky lime sauce mark this pasta salad as Vietnamese.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Cafe Vesuvio in St. Charles offers an absolutely delicious dish of angel hair pasta topped with tuna. We'd like to know how to make it. Nancy and John Noble St. Charles, Illinois

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Editors' note: The original recipe calls for Chinese wheat noodles, but we also like this soup made with somen (Japanese thin wheat noodles) or soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles).