Cucumber Soba Salad, Any Way You Can
August 24, 2017
Japanese cold soba; cucumber and cold noodles, a smattering fresh mint and cilantro with sesame and crispy shallots for texture. Add peanuts or pepitas for more crunch? Fresh scallions instead of fried shallots? Other herbs? The other half of that avocado or a soft boiled egg? Sliced purple peppers from this week’s CSA? Yes! This summer salad welcomes improv. Get into it!
I like a 1:1 cucumber to noodle ratio, because it makes me feel better about the extra taco I had the night before, but you do you. Measuring thinly sliced cucumbers into a cup is extra, so I air on the side of “this looks like a good mix”, then add more dressing or veggies if it looks and tastes like I need it. Make a big batch of plain soba at the beginning of the week and chop fresh cukes into it every day for lunch, taking a different spin on the dressing each day. A spoonful of peanut butter if I have it, a little scoop of miso, the leftover juice from a pan of roasted veggies, a la Megan Winfrey– anything goes.
- Soba noodles
- Juice from half a lime
- A teaspoon of sesame oil
- A tablespoon of olive or canola oil
- Maybe: miso, peanut butter, almond butter – any flavorful paste can serve as a good foundation for your dressing
- Honey
- 1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
- Sesame seeds
- Fried shallot
- A copious amount of cilantro & mint, chopped
Cook soba according to directions on the package, rinse in cold water, then place on a bed of ice cubes to chill while you make your dressing. Drain.
Stir together lime juice, sesame & salad oil and a quick squeeze of honey. Add salt or soy sauce to taste. Mix in all but a small handful of cucumbers in the dressing, then add the noodles. Taste them. Need more salt? More tang? Adjust as you need to with lime juice or rice vinegar and salt. Top your noodles with the rest of the cucumbers, then sprinkle with fried shallot and sesame seeds, and anything else that strikes your fancy. Bon Appetit!
Written for Johnson’s Backyard Farm in Austin, TX