There is an absolute moratorium on buying new food in my house right now. Unless it’s a staple, and we’ve run out, of course. For you Cupcake Friday! fans, this is how serious it is – I can’t close my baking cabinets. There, I admit it.
So, right now, not only am I focusing on the usual bento love, it’s all about managing to use up the gazillion packets of food that are taking over the kitchen! Here’s what I managed to do with the last of a packet of soba noodles:
Soba noodle salad (adapted from Nigella Lawson’s soba noodle salad recipe in her Forever Summer series):
- 1 ‘bundle’ of soba noodles – this will be more than 1 bento’s worth of noodles, although appetites vary (there were 4 bundles in the package I bought, and the whole package is said to serve 6 according to the nutrition facts).
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp mirin (sub honey if you can’t find it)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil is what the recipe requires – the brand I have (President’s Choice) is tasty but strong, so I use 1 tsp sesame and 1 tsp canola
- Cook soba noodles according to package instructions. Watch them carefully – they are incredibly prone to boiling over in an instant.
- Drain the noodles in a colander and either rinse very well in cold water, or plunge the colander into a bowl full of cold water. Don’t skip this step, or you may end up with a tummyache! They need to be well-rinsed and cooled.
- Place noodles into a bowl or a bento, and toss with the dressing and let sit half an hour (if you can) if eating right away. If bentoing, place the dressing in a cup to not run the risk of the dressing disappearing. I actually only used 1/3 the dressing, saving the rest for the hub’s bento and the rest of the soba to snack on.
- The original recipe has toasted sesame seeds and 5 spring onions, but today I just sprinkled about 1/4 of a spring onion over the top of the salad.
I have a hard-boiled egg, grilled orange pepper slices (in the panini press – takes about 8 minutes or so), raw broccoli, and the soba dressing in the pig cup. I had planned some apple slices, but there was no room, so I snacked on those as well as leftover noodles while making bentos. It’s supposed to be a carrot star to decorate, but I messed it up…
Snacks are trail mix for the morning, and cucumber/carrot/sunflower seeds/home-made hummus for the afternoon.
From your snacks to your lunch, this looks great!
Thank you – it was a tasty one
Sounds delicious! I am going to have try this next week when I back to work.
Yes
More bentos!
Happy back to school!
Thank you
Where on earth are you? Is there summer at your place? Soba noodle salad is the typical japanese summer dish. It looks nice and I love soba salad but it’s to cold here…
You might also look at youtube Cooking w/ Dog for the soba noodle salad and very tasty dressings.
I’m in the Rocky Mountains in BC, Canada – and yes, soba is fantastic in summer, but I was really craving it and I am trying to use up odds and ends in the pantry. They were really light but satisfying, even in the middle of a very snowy day….
it`s like you are reading my mind! I keep meaning to buy soba noodles, I used to eat them in university all the time, but I always forget about them when I am meal planning! Great little recipe, I`m a big Nigella fan, so I am for sure keeping this one to make in the future.