Soba Noodle Salad from washingtonpost.com

soba

The chef prefers using regular soy sauce instead of low-sodium (for better flavor).

The dressing can be refrigerated a few days in advance.

For the dressing
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon plain rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili oil
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
One 2-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated (1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons water

For the salad
6 to 8 ounces buckwheat soba noodles
1 or 2 heads romaine lettuce hearts, torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup shelled, frozen/defrosted edamame
6 to 8 scallions (trimmed), white and light-green parts cut thin on the diagonal
20 grape tomatoes, each cut in half
White sesame seeds, for garnish
Nori (roasted seaweed), cut into very thin matchsticks, for garnish

For the dressing: Whisk together the sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, chili oil, peanut butter, ginger and water in a medium bowl, to form a shiny, emulsified blend.

For the salad: Bring a pot of unsalted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the soba noodles (to taste) and stir; cook according to the package directions, then drain, rinse until cool and drain again.

Divide the lettuce (to taste) among individual plates. Top each portion with an equal amount of the cooled noodles, then scatter each one with some of the edamame, scallions and grape tomatoes.

Just before serving, spoon a generous amount of the dressing over each salad, then top each with a good pinch of the sesame seeds and the nori. Serve right away.  4 servings

Soba Salad With Seaweed, Cucumbers, and Asparagus from serious eats

  • 1 pound asparagus, 20150605-seaweed-pasta-salad-daniel-gritzer-13-thumb-625xauto-423921woody ends trimmed
  • 1/2 ounce dried wakame seaweed (see note above)
  • 300 grams (about 10 1/2 ounces) dried soba noodles
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup fresh juice from 2 lemons
  • 2 tablespoons canola, vegetable, or grapeseed oil
  • 1 (1 1/2-inch) knob fresh peeled ginger, grated
  • 1 large English cucumber, ends trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced into quarter-moons
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
  • 2 scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced on the bias
  • Kosher salt

  1. Place wakame in a medium bowl and cover with plenty of warm water. Let stand until softened and rehydrated (about 10 minutes), then transfer to a fine mesh strainer to drain. In a large pot of salted boiling water, blanch asparagus until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Using tongs, transfer to an ice-water bath to chill. Slice chilled asparagus into 1 1/2-inch lengths on a slight bias.

  2. In a new pot of salted boiling water, cook soba noodles until tender, according to package instructions. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold running water until chilled.

  3. In a small mixing bowl, stir together soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice, canola oil, and ginger. Drain wakame and squeeze out excess water with your hands.

  4. In a large bowl, combine soba noodles, asparagus, wakame, cucumber, sesame seeds, and scallions and toss well. Season with salt and serve, sprinkling more sesame seeds on individual plates, if desired.

Cold Noodles with Miso, Lime and Ginger from http://smittenkitchen.com/

Adapted, just a bit, from David Tanis

cold soup

 

Noodles and vegetables
8 ounces buckwheat noodles
A mixture of raw vegetables of your choice (such as carrots, cucumbers, radishes or daikon; see Note for more suggestions)

 

Sauce
2 to 3 tablespoons miso (red is recommend; white would be just fine)
1 2-inch piece ginger, finely grated
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne, or to taste
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice (from about 1 lime), plus lime wedges for serving

 Cook the noodles in well-salted water until tender but firm for the time recommended on your package of noodles. What, your package is only in Japanese, like mine? Most are cooked between 5 and 8 minutes, so test at 5 and add more minutes if needed.

Meanwhile, grate, julienne or thinly slice vegetables of your choice.

Drain noodles and run cold water over them to cool. Drain again, shaking out excess water.

Make the dressing by whisking the smaller amount of miso plus the remaining sauce ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust to make sweeter (with more sugar) or more intense and salty (with the last tablespoon of miso) if desired.

Divide noodles among four bowls; toss each with a tablespoon of the sauce, plus more to taste. Top with vegetables and extra droplets of sauce. Serve with lime wedges.

Notes:

  • Mirin is a rice wine, similar to sake but lower in alcohol and much more sweet. If you can’t find it or don’t wish to buy it (a bottle of the basic stuff is usually around or just under $5), you might try using sake, or a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar and white wine or just water, I’d say 1 tablespoon of each liquid plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar to replace the 2 tablespoons of mirin recommended below.
  • If you have access to an Asian grocery store (New Yorkers, I use the M2M shops often), see if you can find 100 percent buckwheat soba noodles (which would also be gluten-free); they’re inexpensive and wonderful here. Mine had a mix of buckwheat and wheat flour, which is more common. If you cannot find them, you can use rice noodles or even spaghetti in a pinch. Here’s a good read on different Asian noodles.
  • Use whichever medley of cold, crunchy vegetables you’d like here; Tanis recommends daikon (a long, white mild radish), cucumber, radishes, radish sprouts and shiso leaves; I cleaned out my produce drawer with some julienned carrots, thinly sliced string beans, radishes, cucumbers and some wasabi micro-greens I couldn’t resist at the Greenmarket. Tanis suggests soaking grated daikon in the sauce, which I have no doubt mellows it, but I wanted to keep things simpler here.
  • I should forewarn that 3 tablespoons of red miso (a saltier, more intenseversion of white miso; you can use white miso here too if you don’t have red) will make a very salty sauce. We liked it, but we also used just a little per bowl. You can use the full amount and go easy on the sauce as we did, bump up the sugar, or you can start with less of the miso and only add more to taste. I’m recommending the latter above.
  • Serves 4 as a light meal or appetizer; for bigger appetites, you might want to double this