While this cold salad is just fantastic in hot summers, it's also great for those winter days when you just can't stand the thought of another heavy (and possibly white and stodgy) dish. Here in France I'm eating a lot of tarts, gratins, purees, bread and cheese, pasta - all food I love but that leads me to crave something fresh and colourful. The markets at the moment have a great array of turnips but not many vegetables to get excited about. This is a salad that can be made with few or many vegetables, depending on what you have available. I would have loved to add in some spicy sesame leaves but I have trouble finding ANY Asian ingredients, let alone any as exotic as that! So today's salad was made with just noodles, lettuce and cabbage, carrot, cucumber and on top boiled egg (no good tofu or tempeh to be found either) and seaweed.
It wasn't at all boring though as the sauce is very flavourful and turns this from just a healthy bowl of vegetables into a treat to look forward to.
Serves 2-4 depending on amount of veggies used and serving size. (bowl of salad in photo is one of 3 servings)
Salad Ingredients
soba noodles* 2 bundles
lettuce and/or cabbage 5 leaves cut into thin 4cm lengths
and choose from these other toppings:
cucumber 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths**
carrot 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
red capsicum, 1med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
nashi (Asian pear) 1, cut into thin 4cm lengths
cherry tomatoes, 10 cut in half
seasame (perilla) leaves, 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
radishes, 4, thinly sliced
radish sprouts, small handful
spring onions (scallions/green onions), 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
seaweed sheets, 2 large /1 package of small salted Korean kim sheets, cut into thin 4cm lengths
kimchee (cabbage or radish type) if you're not a strict vegetarian or vegan (it is often made with small dried fish). I didn't use kimchee but if you do be aware it will affect the flavour of whole dish.
eggs, 1 per person, hard boiled, halved or quartered
OR (vegan option)
tempeh or tofu, marinated, 1/2 block, sliced in 4cm lengths, fried
* If you don't have soba noodles (available in most supermarkets) you can use many other types of noodles including brown rice noodles, buckwheat noodles, sweet potato noodles (chewy!), acorn noodles (great if you can find them), angelhair noodles...
**My new julienne cutter tool - looks similar to a potato peeler - is earning its keep in my kitchen!
Dressing Ingredients
3 T light soy sauce
3 T vinegar (rice vinegar is usual, or I like to use cider vinegar)
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T agave nectar/ mild honey or 3 T brown sugar
1/2 T vegetarian oyster sauce
1 T crushed garlic
1 1/2 t wasabi
1 T chilli powder / Korean chilli flakes
1 T seasame oil
2 T toasted seasame seeds
more dressing options:
replace the veg oyster sauce and chilli powder with 4 T Korean red chilli paste (gochu jang - great paste to have if you can find it; look for it in Korean or general 'Asian' grocery stores).
you could use a knob of grated ginger and some coriander leaves for un-Korean but still delicious additions
Method
Combine ingredients for dressing and blend well. Refrigerate.
Blanch noodles in boiling water (or if using another type of noodles, cook till just tender) then wash under cold running water. Drain well.
Mix noodles with dressing and half the lettuce and other toppings. Use (clean!) hands to mix ensure thorough mix.
Garnish with remaining lettuce and toppings and serve.
I like to add the seaweed last as it gets soggy and chewy quickly. In the one in the photo I didn't have my favourite small Korean kim sheets so sliced up the kind used for 'california rolls'. I sprinkled the eggs with salt, chilli powder and sesame seeds.
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