Soba Noodle Salad
Our snow peas, sugar snap peas and capucijner soup peas are doing abundantly well this year. And Bambi, who has been frolicking in our yard hasn’t found them yet. Of course, Zuri, our watch dog has been running interference so I’m sure that has helped as well.
Anyway, I found a Japanese soba noodle salad in a very old copy of Bon Appétit magazine that featured pea pods, so how could I not try it? I did change it up a little but used the basic recipe. It served four people very nicely for lunch.
Salad:
8 – 12 ounces dried soba noodles (I only had 8 oz.)
4 ounces snow peas, thinly sliced (i used 2 cups sliced in 3-4 pieces each)
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
1/4 cup sliced green onions (I used minced shallots)
1 cup pea pods cooked separately for 1 minute in boiling water
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Dressing:
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 T. rice vinegar
1 T. toasted sesame oil
1 T. minced fresh ginger
Cook noodles in large pot of boiling water until al dente (about 1 1/2 minutes less than recommended time on package). Each brand has different cooking times depending upon thickness of noodle. Add sliced snow peas, cook 30 seconds more and drain. Rinse with cold water, drain again and place in large mixing bowl. Stir in carrots and onions.
Mix the dressing ingredients, pour over noodle mix and toss to blend. May use salt and pepper if desired.
Garnish with whole pea pods (gotta use up them peas) and peanuts.
Note: The pea pods cooked for 30 seconds with the noodles are crunchy but do turn an olive drab color from the dressing. That’s why I cooked extra pods separately to add at the last minute. An addition of baked tofu would also work very nicely in this salad. Bon Appétit!