Sesame Soba Noodles
Sesame soba noodles! Toss whole grain soba noodles in a creamy tahini sauce then add crunchy carrots and cucumbers to make this cold Asian salad.
Oh hayyyyy there sesame noodles. Don't worry, we'll come back to you. But first, let's talk Olympics.
Tell me, are you watching? What's your favorite sport? It's badmitton, isn't it? ;) I'm typing this while watching women's gymnastics qualifiers. Sidebar - Simone Biles OMG!!! How does your body do these things? I literally do not understand.
I'm always super ambivalent about the Olympics when they're first starting then two days later I find myself in tears watching some random Armenian's medal dreams get crushed. Currently, I've cried at least five times including when the Dutch cyclist crashed, when Gabby Douglas stepped out of bounds during the floor routine, and when my husband made a remark about the diversity of American athletes showing off what's cool about our country. Tears. What is wrong with me? I think I need to get my hormones checked...
So back to these sesame noodles. I'm a huge fan of Asian noodle salads. It's all the things I want in the summer. Salads and substance.
You'll want to find soba noodles if you can. One hundred percent buckwheat are my jam, and gluten free too for those who must avoid, but the whole wheat or mixed buckwheat and wheat are easier to find and work just fine. Regular spaghetti also works in a pinch.
This sesame sauce is the bestest. Most sesame noodles use sesame oil as a dressing, but sometimes that gets a bit greasy. So I used tahini, which was almost like a peanut satay sauce. Actually, you could probably use peanut butter instead of tahini and it would be equally amazing.
To round it out, add rotisserie chicken or baked tofu cubes. You could also serve it over a bed of lettuce for more green.
Sesame Soba Noodles
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 ounce soba noodles
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon tahini
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sriracha
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced into half moons
2 carrots, shredded
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook soba noodles according to package instructions. When cooked, drain and rinse with cold water.
While noodles are cooking, whisk together tahini, sesame oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and sriracha.
Toss noodles in a large bowl with dressing, scallions, cucumber and carrots. Serve room temperature or chilled.
More Asian noodle salads:
Curry Salmon Noodle Bowl
Vegan Vietnamese Brown Rice Noodle Salad with Tempeh
Kimchi Noodle Salad