Rebecca’s recipe of the week: A Summertime Noodle Dish | Canalside Community Food

Cold Chinese noodles with a spicy sesame sauce make an excellent lunch, plus they’re very easy to prepare.

Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients
250g soba noodles (you can also use Chinese egg noodles or linguine)
2 Canalside cucumbers
50-100g spring onions, white and some green bits thinly sliced
50-100g peanuts, toasted in a dry pan and chopped
The sesame sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup tahini (or natural crunchy peanut butter—in which case you’ll be making noodles in a peanut sauce)
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soya sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce, to taste

Preparation
Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Soba noodles should take about 5 minutes. When the noodles are al dente drain them and run them under cold water for several minutes to cool them off and prevent their sticking to themselves. Let them drain, and cool, for a few minutes.

Cut the cucumbers into little matchsticks. I do this by slicing the cucumber in half, and then cutting each half into lengthwise slabs (like lasagne noodles). Stack these slabs into a pile and cut them into little matchsticks. The goal is to have little sticks of cucumber roughly the size of the noodles, only shorter. If you find this too fiddly you can simply grate the cucumber coarsely. In either case, put the cucumber into a bowl.

Add the sliced spring onions and peanuts. Toss together and then add the cooked and drained noodles. Toss everything together.

Prepare the sesame sauce: mix all the sauce ingredients together. The tahini (if you’re using it) will resist mixing so you’ll need to stir it all together with determination. Once it’s all mixed add it to the noodle bowl and toss.

Serve and enjoy.

Mark Bittman notes that you can add cooked chicken, pork, beef, or seafood to the finished dish. You can also fry up litle tofu cubes and add those, as well, if you’re so inclined.

(Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman, The Best Recipes in the World (2005).)