{"id":14916,"date":"2013-07-31T16:09:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T14:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=14916"},"modified":"2014-04-26T14:00:19","modified_gmt":"2014-04-26T12:00:19","slug":"spicy-cold-soba-buckwheat-noodles-with-fresh-coriander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=14916","title":{"rendered":"Spicy Cold Soba (Buckwheat Noodles) with Fresh Coriander"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"coldsobapp\"Stunning, complex, seductive, addictive… my English is too limited to describe this seemingly simple dish. If you have ever tasted Zaru Soba (the famous Japanese buckwheat noodles served cold with a delicate dipping sauce), you might already know how miraculously cooling cold soba noodles can be and this originally seasoned variation is no exception.\u00a0Spiced up with chilli powder, \u00a0boosted by the pungency of fresh coriander (cilantro for my US friends) and enriched with the crunchy, nutty sesame seeds, this soba dish will seduce all the amateurs of bolder flavours. The slightly sweet and hot dressing is so good, you will not resist drinking the remains from your bowl. After having had it three times in one week I can officially call it the star of this summer.<\/p>\n

I found this wonderful summer treat on Nami’s blog (Just One Cookbook)<\/a>, one of my main sources of Japanese cooking inspiration. I have slightly changed the ingredients’ amounts, adapting them to a dish for one, so visit her blog to check the original recipe and to browse through her impressive collection of clearly explained and professionally photographed – not only Japanese – recipes. Thank you so much, Nami, for one more marvellous discovery!<\/p>\n

This dish can be treated as a light main course or a snack, but I prefer it as a side dish. It is perfect with simple stir-fried chicken and goes surprisingly well with the Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Shoyu<\/a>
Shoyu Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TIPS: If you have never bought soba noodles, don’t be surprised if you see also wheat flour mentioned on the package. Most soba noodles contain both the buckwheat and the wheat flour (though 100% buckwheat soba exist of course!). The higher the percentage of buckwheat, the stronger the taste is, so if you taste soba for the first time, I advise those containing wheat flour. You might also stumble upon green soba (coloured with green tea) or pinkish (they obtain this colour thanks to cherry flowers).<\/p>\n

Soba should stay al dente, so follow precisely the cooking time indicated on your package of noodles. In my case it was 5 minutes (if you don’t have the exact translation of the instructions – my shop translates for example only the ingredients – look out for this kanji: “\u5206” meaning “minute\/s”, preceded by a number; the number is usually written in Western way).<\/p>\n

For the same reason I wouldn’t advice preparing this dish in advance. The coriander will wilt and the noodles will become too soft and soggy (they might also become sticky). (I follow here Nami’s advice<\/a>, but I know very well from my own experience how soggy soba noodles are disappointing…).<\/p>\n

Preparation: 15 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves one):<\/em><\/p>\n

50 g (approx. 2 oz) soba noodles (buckwheat noodles)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon soy sauce<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon agave syrup (Nami has used honey)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon sesame oil<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 teaspoon white sesame seeds<\/em><\/p>\n

4 fresh coriander\/cilantro leaves, chopped (you can leave some bigger pieces for the decoration)<\/em><\/p>\n

2 tablespoons chopped green onion (I have used European chives because I didn’t have green onions)<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 – 1 teaspoon chili powder<\/em><\/p>\n

Cook the soba noodles in boiling water according to your package instructions (it was 5 minutes on mine).<\/p>\n

In the meantime prepare the sauce.<\/p>\n

In a big bowl combine all the ingredients apart from the sesame seeds.<\/p>\n

On an empty pan heat the sesame seeds until they start “jumping”. Quickly transfer them to the bowl with the sauce.<\/p>\n

Drain and rinse the soba noodles well with cold water.<\/p>\n

Rinse again and combine with the sauce ingredients.<\/p>\n

Serve immediately. (You can sprinkle with some more sesame seeds and coriander leaves).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stunning, complex, seductive, addictive… my English is too limited to describe this seemingly simple dish. If you have ever tasted Zaru Soba (the famous Japanese…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,131,125,183,133,18],"tags":[114],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14916"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16031,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14916\/revisions\/16031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}