I should be knee high in newspaper, bubble wrap and packing tape but I am already so tired of it that I could cry. I thought I would sneak away for a few and type up a quick post. I really haven’t been cooking or trying out anything new for the blog but I had a few back ups that I hadn’t posted yet.

The idea of moving and even attempting to cook is making me quite nervous. There’s only so much fast food you can tolerate and sit down dinners cost an arm and a leg for 6 people. As usual, I am not organised enough to have thought ahead and made a few dishes and stuck them in the freezer. I guess I will be cooking sooner than I want to! This soba noodle bowl comes together in a flash and is a great contender for quick, easy, moving in meal.

I made this cold soba noodle bowl a few weeks ago for lunch. The night before it had been pretty cold and I used the soba noodles to make a hot soup per my family’s request. All the same ingredients but the noodles were served in a hot broth and the noodle sauce/dressing was drizzled into the hot broth as a flavouring. It worked great in both cold and hot form.

If you’ve never tried soba noodles, they are made out of buck wheat, a grain like seed, and are not related to wheat at all (it is actually related to sorrel and rhubarb). I love how floral soba noodles smell when they are cooked: they have a lovely, delicate fragrance. If you can find soba noodles that do not have wheat flour added, then the soba noodles are gluten free, which I love.

Toss the noodles in the dressing and then top with shredded cabbage, cucumbers, red peppers, fresh herbs or pretty much anything you like. The dressing/sauce can be served on the side for anyone who likes to dip their noodles. A little drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkling of sesame seeds and you have a great cold soba noodle bowl salad.

These soba noodles are the perfect accompaniment to a Memorial Day cookout, especially if you have Asian inspired meat on the grill. They do double duty as a side dish and a cold salad. You can very easily leave off the shredded chicken or replace it with fried tofu and it is perfect for vegetarians.

Save Print

Soba Noodle Bowl

Serves: 6 bowls

Ingredients

• 1 Lb/454g soba noodles
• cooked shredded chicken
• shredded cabbage
• julienned cucumbers
• julienned red bell peppers
• shredded carrots
• cilantro or herbs of choice
• toasted sesame seeds

SOY GINGER DRESSING

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten free if desired)
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• ¼ cup/60mL vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon chilli sauce (Sriracha)
• 2 teaspoon garlic, minced (5 garlic cloves)
• 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 3 green onions/scallions, roughly chopped
• juice of 1 large lime

Instructions

1. Boil the soba noodles per package instructions.
2. Once cooked, drain and rinse the noodles in cold water and set aside.
3. Toss with a little sesame oil if they stick.
4. To make the dressing, put all the dressing ingredients into a blender and blend into a puree.
5. Check the dressing to see if its sweet enough, or tart enough; however you like it.
6. Also check for spiciness and adjust by adding more.
7. Toss the noodles in the dressing (there will be enough for the 1Lb of noodles..6 bowls).
8. If more dressing is required, the recipe can be doubled.
9. Put the dressed noodles into a bowl and top with the cabbage, chicken, peppers and cucumbers.
10. Drizzle a little sesame oil and sprinkle the sesame seeds.

Notes

Double the dressing recipe if you want to offer some as a dipping sauce. Adjust the sugar, lime juice and hot sauce to your liking. This sauce was great drizzled into hot noodles in chicken broth, added really nice flavour and a bit of heat to the broth.

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

3.5.3226

There is no rest for the wicked and so I must get back to my wrapping, packing and stacking. We are beginning to move our little stuff in today and so there’s going to be lot of back and forth this weekend. Good thing the new house is 5 minutes down the road!

I wanted to thank you all for your wonderful comments and words of encouragement. It is pretty amazing to have such great friends who know exactly what I am going through and say the right things to help and support. Thank you so much!

Please forgive me if I don’t comment on your posts this coming week. I will be doing a lot of shuttling stuff back and forth and then I will probably not have internet. I can only read so much on my tiny iPhone screen and for some reason, I have a heck of a time commenting on Blogger sites with my iPad. I cannot comment on Blogger sites; my iPad just freezes up. If you follow me on Instagram, I may just Instagram my move, so you can all feel sorry for me by looking at my pictures 🙂

Have a great weekend and a very Happy Memorial Day!