Do you cook with soba noodles? If not, I definitely recommend giving them a try! You won't be disappointed. Soba noodles are native Japanese noodles. They are made of buckwheat flour and are about as thick as spaghetti. Buckwheat is an ancient and a very healthy grain - but more importantly for me it just tastes awesome and cooks in 4 minutes! You can't beat that on a busy weeknight! These noodles when properly cooked have a really good bite to it and can withstand sharper flavors of soya, chili-garlic paste etc with commendable integrity :)
Buckwheat noodles can be served cold or hot - this preparation I am sharing with you today is best eaten while the noodles are hot.
This dish rotates almost every week at our home. The little one loves noodles and tofu and is always happy to munch along picking noodles one by one :) We try many ingredient variation from tofu, broccoli, carrots, yellow papers, mushrooms, babycorns, water chestnuts to chicken. I prefer extra firm tofu for this dish. If tofu is not your thing, feel free to skip it - dish tastes great just with vegetables too.
Recipe:
Serves hungry 3
Ingredients:
9.5 ounces Soba noodles (1 packet with 3 rolls of soba)
Quarter of red onion -sliced thinly
2 carrots - chopped
half of yellow paper - sliced thinly
2C mushrooms - chopped
1/2inch piece of ginger - grated
2 garlic cloves - grated/minced
2 green onions - thinly sliced
handful of cilantro leaves - minced (optional)
4Tbsp soy sauce
2Tbsp rice vinegar
dash of your favorite stir fry sauce (I used Trader Joe's) (optional)
2Tbsp canola oil
dash of sesame seed oil
pinch of crushed chili flakes
chili garlic paste as condiment
salt & pepper
First, start cooking the noodles per package instructions. Mine required 4 mins of cooking time in boiling hot water.
While water is heating, prep all the vegetables.
Then mince ginger and garlic and chop green onions & cilantro
Heat 2Tbsp canola oil in a large skillet till very hot (stir-fry temperature).
Add sliced onions and cook on high-heat for a few minutes. Then add ginger & garlic and cook another minute.
Then add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms have oozed out all the extra water
Turn the heat off.
Meanwhile rinse the cooked noodles with cold water
Add noodles to the skillet. Add dash of sesame oil, green onions and cilantro, salt & pepper and mix well.
Dinner is served! Provide chili-garlic sauce (commonly available in asian aisles of supermarkets) as condiment for a spicier version. Make yourself a hot cup of green tea or jasmine tea for the hard work (or not ;) ) and sip along and enjoy your dinner!
Comments
I should make something like this for lunch sometime soon. :)