Cold Soba Noodles with Vegetables and Spicy Sauce

Ingredients

1. For the soba with vegetables to be really tasty, all the vegetables must be very fresh. It is ideal in the season of young vegetables: you will not feel any hardness in the toppings. Besides, young vegetables are juicier and even sweeter.

2. Prepare the vegetables and herbs: cucumbers, carrot, bell pepper, cilantro, green onion and lime.

   The amount of vegetables here is only approximate. You can vary their quantity and kinds as you like.

   

3. Measure out the buckwheat noodles, 80-85 g per serving.

   Buckwheat noodles are sold in small packs, with the portions inside separated and tied with a ribbon. As a rule, the amount suggested per serving is about 50 g. I’ll put it this way: that is too little for a main course. Italians reckon 80-85 g of pasta per serving, so my daughter and I (thanks to her for the recipe and the help) went with that amount.

   

Vegetables

1. Young cucumbers need not be peeled; just cut off the ends. Peel the carrot and remove the seeds from the pepper.

2. Without mixing them, cut the cucumbers, carrot and pepper into strips in separate bowls. The strips should be fairly thin and long.

   The closest cut for this dish is the so-called julienne, which French cuisine uses for salads, soups and other dishes.

3. Pull the leaves off the cilantro sprigs and roughly tear them with your fingers. Slice the green onion tops as you would for a salad. Cut the lime in half.

   

Noodles

1. As I said, soba with vegetables is served cold. So the buckwheat noodles need to be cooked and cooled.

2. Bring 2-2.5 l of water to a boil in a pot over high heat.

3. Once the water boils, add the noodles and cook them for the time given on the package. In our case the recommended time was 7 mins. Stir gently so the strands do not stick together.

   

4. Drain the cooked buckwheat noodles in a colander and rinse them under cold running water.

   This cools the noodles and washes off some of the sticky starch, which keeps the strands from clumping. When rinsed, the noodles become slightly springy. To me they look like light brown seaweed.

5. Let the water drain off.

   

Assembly and serving

1. Put a portion of soba into a small bowl.

   Special bowls or woven plates are used to serve such dishes. At home, small hemispherical bowls, the kind used for soup or salad, work great.

   

2. Arrange the cut vegetables in separate piles on top of the buckwheat noodles along the edges of the bowl, and add the green onion, cilantro and half a lime.

   Soba with vegetables is a colorful dish and should delight the eye.

3. In a cup, mix 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp rice vinegar and 1 tbsp light soy sauce, then add chili sauce to taste.

   Depending on how hot the sauce is and how you like it, you can add 1 tsp of hot sauce or more. If you wish, add 1 tsp of ready-made fish sauce.

4. Whisk the sauce and pour it over the noodles.

5. To serve: soba is usually eaten with chopsticks. While eating, the noodles are mixed with the vegetables and sauce.

   This is a filling dish; one plate has enough calories to satisfy your hunger. It is also very tasty. If you like, add other vegetables you enjoy. You can add boiled, peeled shrimp and sprinkle with sesame seeds. If you like it hot, add a bit more hot sauce.