Cold Somen Noodles

 

“Atsui” needn’t be the only word you use this summer to make small talk in the staff room. Make this easy peasy Japanesey somen lunch and you’ll be bantering about bentos till school’s out. Somen noodles are made of wheat flour and are usually served cold. With an easy dipping sauce, they can be a great addition to your leafy salad.

 

Cook time: 2 minutes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Serves 2

 

Ingredients:

100g dry somen noodles

Quarter lettuce shredded

Cucumber thinly sliced

Handful of cherry tomatoes

Hardboiled egg- quartered

 

Dipping sauce:

100ml dashi stock in cold water

4 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp mirin

½ tsp sugar

Thumb sized ginger cut up into matchsticks

 

Directions

1. In a pan of boiling water, cook somen for 2 minutes.

2. Drain somen noodles and cool under running cold water.

3. Mix together all dipping sauce ingredients

4. Toss salad ingredients together

5. Bundle somen on top of salad

6. Dip noodles into sauce or drizzle it over everything.

This will be my sayonara recipe as I’ll be departing this food haven we call Japan (read more on Where Are They Now). But you’re in for an upgrade: my dear, foodie friend Helen Yuan will be kindly inviting you into her kitchen to share all her favourite recipes from August.

That’s all folks.

Cherie Pham