Hot-weather, “cool” recipe: Chilled Soba Noodles! Yes, please.
#What’sForDinner? Perusing my cabinets I spotted a nice bag of soba noodles, and the craving hit! Perfectly cold, chilled soba noodles would make the perfect recipe for a sticky-stuffy hot summer night.
The flavors: Chilled soba noodles that are citrus-infused, mushroom-garnished, wasabi-spiced and crushed-peanut accented. Soba, aka buckwheat noodles, are incredibly healthy. And delicious.
So I pulled out my New Year’s Eve Soba Noodle recipe and decided on a few easy-version modifications. Give my recipe a look…
What is Soba? Soba noodles are one of the various types of Japanese noodles (udon, ramen, soba and shirataki). Soba noodles are made of buckwheat flour, or a mix of buckwheat and other various flours or wild yam.
> Read my complete SOBA 101 post here for a classic recipe and many fun Soba Noodle facts and tips.
> Another Cold Soba Recipe: Pad Thai Soba with Spicy Peanut Sauce.
I used beech mushrooms for this recipe, but shiitake or crimini work beautifully too!
For my “Easy-Vegan-Version” recipe, I decided to take this recipe which I love and simplify it a bit. Here is the end result recipe…
Chilled Wasabi Peanut Citrus Soba Noodles, with Mushrooms
vegan, makes about 6 servings
1 package Soba Noodles, 8.8 ounces
*I used Eden brand Wild Yam Soba Noodles
Boiling Broth:
1 orange, juiced and zested
2 Tbsp agave syrup
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp wasabi powder
4 Tbsp soy sauce
a few dashes of dried spices (garlic powder onion powder – whatever you have on hand)
Cold Toss-In Ingredients:
2 Tbsp sesame oil (use another oil if no sesame oil on hand)
1 lime, juiced
1/4 cup crushed peanuts
1/4 cup scallions, chopped thin
1 cup sauteed mushrooms
1 small can mandarin oranges
black pepper to taste
optional soba add-ins:
a few sliced umeboshi plums for garnish/fold-in
2 Tbsp peanut butter
chopped parsley or cilantro
sesame seeds
fresh grated ginger
Directions:
1. Prepare boiling broth by adding 3 1/2 cups of water to soup pot. Add in all broth ingredients: juice and zest, agave syrup, black pepper, wasabi powder, soy sauce. Bring broth to a boil.
2. Add in the dry soba noodles. Make sure the noodles are completely covered with water. If you need to add more liquid, add more water as needed.
3. Boil noodles for 6-8 minutes. While boiling, prepare a big bowl of ice water bath. You can also prep the toss-in ingredients while the noodles are boiling (chop the scallions, etc.)
4. After 6-8 minutes drain noodles, however do not toss the boiling broth down the drain – save it in a separate bowl. This leftover broth can be used as a flavoring ingredient in other dishes or even sipped as a soup on its own.
5. Immediately submerge the noodles (still in a strainer) into the ice bath. Rinse the noodles very well with ice cold water. Toss to remove excess water. Set aside. Dry well with air. Dry them on a bamboo mat if you have one.
6. You can now prepare the mushrooms by lightly sauteing them in the leftover broth and a bit of oil. I used a tsp of olive oil, but use whatever you’d like. Allow cooked mushrooms to chill in fridge. Drizzle a few drops of sesame oil on top if you’d like. Sesame oil is best when added cold to salads and noodles. It is not ideal for heat.
7. Next, add cold noodles to a large mixing bowl and toss with the flavoring ingredients: sesame oil, peanuts, pepper, scallions, lime, mushrooms and optional citrus. Only use half your portion of mushrooms for the toss-in. The other half will be used as a garnish.
8. Place noodles and shrooms in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes before serving. These noodles also taste divine the next day. Cold soba is delicious and healthy.
Read this Soba Noodle post for a similar recipe and a long list of SOBA FACTS.
Or try: Pad Thai Soba with Spicy Peanut Sauce.
