Cold Soba Noodles

The idea was simple enough, eat my way through A-Z, blogging and sharing my experience with family and friends. The execution, however, has become quite difficult as I seem to get distracted very easily with the goal, so as always, ideas were set to be changed, so unfortunately, I have decided that I will go my own way and blog all my food experiences…the ones worth mentioning, of course…

Melbourne has just endured a scorching 36°C day and for the first time in recent memory, I did not feel like dinner. Actually, that would be a lie. I did feel like dinner but all I felt like was ice cream. But isn’t dinner by definition something savory?? Or at least, that’s what I’ve been brought up to believe in. Savory ice cream? Peanut butter ice cream? That’s sweet and a bit savory? I can have dinner and dessert all rolled in one...

Maybe not…so I got thinking and finally, am reminded of a dish I had when I was travelling in Japan last year. A quick bowl of plum pudding and date & walnut ice cream followed by a quick trip to the Asian grocery store later, this is what I whipped up: Japanese Soba Noodle with my version of soba sauce and sides.

Soba そば, is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It can be served either cold or in hot soup as soup noodle. For today, I’m serving it cold with a side of freshly julienned carrots, cucumber, enoki mushroom, seaweed and alas but not least, kim chi. I know, I know…kim chi?? Where does that fit in?? Well, I wanted something cold and that was available and I felt like it too, so kim chi it was and it went down very nicely, thank you very much.

For the dipping sauce, I kept it quick and simple by using dashi stock (from dashi granules), dissolving it in water, then boiling it with mirin, bit of sugar and soy sauce. The sauce was then kept in the fridge to cool.

Store bought dehydrated soba noodle was used and after cooking it, was kept in the fridge as well as I prepared my sides.

To serve, I added some wasabi and chili paste (I like my spices, even in hot weather) to the dipping sauce and topped it with dry roasted sesame seeds and mixed everything (except the kim chi) together for an easy, one bowl meal. The result, a super easy, healthy, home cooked meal perfect for the hot weather. The dipping sauce was mild tasting but flavorsome enough, bringing out the hotness of the wasabi and complementing the fresh, mild flavored sides.