I had never had soba noodles before and was a little bit skeptical about whether or not it was something we would enjoy. I’ve tried many whole wheat pastas in the past that were too healthy and not tasty, but these buckwheat noodles have a wonderful texture and mellow, slightly salty taste.
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I knew I liked tempura, but had never made it at home. This tempura was very light and easy to make, but I’m still not sure that I would make it again because I rarely cook fried foods at home.
But the Soba Salad I would definitely make again. I was surprised that I liked the Soba Salad even more than the tempura. It reminded me of a pasta salad with an Asian twist. It is a quick healthy meal, that would be perfect on a hot summer night.
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Cold Soba Salad and Tempura
Ingredients
Soba Noodles:
- 2 quarts 2 Liters water + 1 cup cold water, separate
- 12 oz 340 g dried soba (buckwheat) noodles (or any Asian thin noodle)
Spicy Dipping Sauce:
- ¾ cup 70gm/2½ oz spring onions/green onions/scallions finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons 45 ml soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons 30 ml rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon 2½ ml (4 ? gm) (0.16 oz) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon 1¼ ml (⅛ gm) (0.005 oz) English mustard powder
- 1 tablespoon 15 ml grape-seed oil or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon 15 ml sesame oil (if you can’t find this just omit from recipe.)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste – roughly ⅓ a teaspoon of each
Common Hiyashi Soba Toppings:
- Thin omelet strips Ham, Boiled chicken breasts, Cucumber, Boiled bean sprouts, Tomatoes, Toasted nori (Dried Seaweed), Green onions, Wasabi powder, Finely grated daikon (Japanese radish), Beni Shoga (Pickled Ginger)
Instructions
Cooking the noodles:
- Heat 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the noodles a small bundle at a time, stirring gently to separate. When the water returns to a full boil, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this twice. When the water returns to a full boil, check the noodles for doneness. You want to cook them until they are firm-tender. Do not overcook them.
- Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold running water until the noodles are cool. This not only stops the cooking process, but also removes the starch from the noodles. This is an essential part of soba noodle making. Once the noodles are cool, drain them and cover them with a damp kitchen towel and set them aside allowing them to cool completely.
Spicy Dipping Sauce:
- Shake all the ingredients together in a covered container. Once the salt has dissolved, add and shake in 2 tablespoons of water and season again if needed.
Toppings:
- All toppings should be julienne, finely diced or grated. Prepare and refrigerate covered until needed.
Serving:
- Traditionally soba is served on a bamboo basket tray, but if you don’t have these, you can simply serve them on a plate or in a bowl. Divide up the noodles, laying them on your serving dishes. Sprinkle each one with nori. In small side bowl or cup, place ½ cup (120 ml) of dipping sauce into each. In separate small side dishes, serve each person a small amount of wasabi, grated daikon, and green onions.
- The noodles are eaten by sprinkling the desired garnishes into the dipping sauce and eating the noodles by first dipping them into the sauce. Feel free to slurp away! Oishii!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
I had no idea what goes into making tempura. Ice baths? Blimey!! I do love oriental food though so I’d really like eating these.
Gabriella
Io ho mangiato questi piatti solo al ristorante giapponese e sono squisiti!!
Non ho mai provato a farli in casa penso sia un po complicato da fare…. la tua preparazione invece è perfetta!! complimenti.
Ciao a presto
crustabakes
WOW, thats a very successful attempt on the challenge. They look delicious and very authenticly asian!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Aww mum you’re so clever! I’ve never made soba noodles before but I really like the cold ones in Summer-they’re so refreshing! Yours look perfect! 😀 xxx
Audax Artifex
Your tempura is p.e.r.f.e.c.t the batter is so thin and crisp and wonderful to hear that you will be making the soba noodles again. wonderful photographs as always.
Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
Anne
After all this sugar (for weeks) this looks so gooooooood. Beautiful!
teresa
i’ve never tried tempura before, but i’d love to, it looks so dang good! happy valentine’s day!
Anna Johnston
Loving this challenge Barbara. Beautiful challenge this one as these flavours are my favourite for sure.
Donna
Great job on the challenge ~ can’t wait til next month!
Bonnie
This salad looks wonderful. I love the thought of these Japanese flavors. I bet it was even better the second night…if there were any leftovers.
Claire @ Claire K Creations
Your tempura looks perfect – just like what I’ve ordered many times at the Japanese. I’m not a big fan of home deep-frying either. 1. I’m too scared and 2. seeing all that oil tends to put me off.
Well done on this challenge. Success!
Lauren from Lauren's Latest
I’ll have to try this tempura! Looking at all the ingredients for the soba noodles sounds like those would be super good too!
chef_d
Loved this challenge because it made me like cold soba noodles too. Wasn’t too keen on the tempura either but it was great to have tried it for this challenge. Great job!
Alta
Great job! I too liked the soba noodles even more than the tempura.
Kim
Both of these are really fun recipes, Barbara! I wish I could say that I don’t make fried foods, but I do enjoy them on occasion. I happened to watch a tv show the other day that talked about using cornflour in the tempura batter. They were saying that cornflour is a secret ingredient that helps make the batter light. After looking at the pictures of your tempura, I have to say that your batter looks wonderful. I would be very happy to both recipes!
Rosa
A beautiful meal! Well, done.
Cheers,
Rosa
Faith
The tempura and the salad both look delicious! Love your presentation too.
Eliana
Hmmm – will definitely be giving this a try. This looks super delicious.
Anula
Love the look of your tempura! Unfortunatelly I didn’t have buckwheat noodle had to use bean ones. I’ll def make tempura again – with soba I’m not so sure 😉
Cheers from sunny but cold Ireland!
Anula.
Maria
Soba noodles are my favorite! Will have to try the tempura at home.