Eat more noodles
tasty noodles
ngeles restaurant, Chinois on Main (that’s “Chinese on Main Street” to you and me). We had a late flight in and couldn’t make the first sitting, so had a 9pm booking instead. At 11pm we finally got to eat. The place was packed and when you’re in one of the coolest places on earth, you do as the locals do and think it’s all perfectly normal. One of us ordered the “black and gold noodles” and waited with anticipation to see what would eventually arrive. Well, the gold noodles were actually just plain egg noodles and the black were, in fact, soba noodles (so there’s some poetic licence). They arrived cold. Well, we knew it was late, but cold noodles—unheard of! At this stage the disappointment was bigger than the bill was going to be.
Now, 15 years on, I read Terry Durack’s description of soba noodles and realise how often it’s through sheer ignorance and expectation that we are disappointed. Terry Durack has written some excellent books on food, including one called Noodle. He says the soba noodle is one of the world’s truly great noodle varieties. Rugged, tough and protein-rich, they are extremely versatile, AND taste just as good hot or cold. Usually made from a combination of buckwheat and wheat flour, they are mushroom-brown in colour and have a nutty flavour that makes them work just as well with dipping sauces (dashi, soy or mirin) as on their own. They are also excellent served in a bowl of soup as in the recipe that follows. Buy them from the organic shop or the supermarket, and they take less than four minutes to cook. Easy. The soba noodle originated in the colder climate of northern Japan, but is eaten all over the country and considered the epitome of noodle élan in Tokyo.
Terry Durack is passionate about noodles in general, and says that if we eat them we will live longer, pass exams, find peace at the end of a long life, love at the end of our chopsticks, and feed the body and soul. Nutritious and nurturing, noodles are the future!
Soba noodles and salmon in a ginger broth
1 litre of low-salt chicken broth
2 kaffir lime leaves, stripped from the stem
2 stalks of lemongrass, chopped
1 chilli, split in half and seeds removed
30g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
200g soba noodles
400g fresh salmon, sliced lengthwise into four slices, skin removed
2 bunches of bok choy or other Asian greens
Fresh coriander to serve
Place four bowls into the oven to warm.
Place the broth, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, chilli and ginger into a pot and heat gently for 10 minutes to infuse the flavours (you don’t want to reduce the amount of liquid, so gentle is the word).
Strain the liquid into another pot and discard the flavourings. Heat the liquid to simmering, add the soba noodles and cook for three-and-a-half minutes, no more. Please don’t overcook your noodles! Remove the soba with tongs into the 4 warmed bowls and place the liquid pot back on the heat. Add the greens and the salmon and cook for two minutes or until the salmon is just cooked through. Add the salmon and the greens to the bowls and spoon the broth over. Decorate with the coriander. Serve and slurp. This stuff could save your life!
And now for a cold version:
Soba Noodle and Chicken Salad
2 chicken breasts, sliced
A little oil for frying the chicken
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
140g soba noodles. Cook for 3 ½ minutes in boiling salted water, drain and rinse under cold water until cool.
1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of mirin
2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
2 pieces of pickled ginger, rinsed and finely sliced
1 small cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly
1 bunch of fresh coriander
Marinate the sliced chicken in two tablespoons of the soy and one teaspoon of the sesame oil. Cover and place in the fridge for one hour. Mix together in a large bowl the mirin, the remaining two tablespoons of soy, one teaspoon of sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and pickled ginger. Add the noodles and toss it all together. Cook the chicken slices in a frying pan in a little oil, until just cooked. Add to the noodles along with the cucumber and coarsely chopped coriander. Toss to mix and serve in bowls. Sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds, position your chopsticks, and eat.
Serves two as a main meal, or four as part of a meal.
Optional extras would be fresh chopped mint, chopped roasted peanuts and a cooked, rolled and sliced omelette.
Fiona Feasey
