Cold Asian Summer!

Pasta di Grano Saraceno, Germogli di Piselli, Frittata Semplice & Verdure Miste

Soba Noodles with Pea Sprouts, Egg Roll & Vegetables

No, I am not referring to the weather conditions in the title of this post... I am referring to the temperature of the food :-) This evening, I decided to make another meal using cold, Soba noodles, which are totally delicious and which I am growing more fond of by the minute!

I made this as an alternative to anything fatty and fried, as a refreshing Summer dish that is packed with flavor but low on calories, as a quick and inexpensive meal and a veritable banquet made of the simplest of ingredients... My kinda meal! 

What looks and tastes like a real treat ( and IS in fact a real treat!) was made from 1 portion of Soba (buckwheat) noodles, 1 egg, 2-3 Mu-Err mushrooms, a handful of radishes, mint and coriander, 1 handful of pea sprouts, 1 Spring onion, 2 baby carrots, the juice of 1 lime a little ginger. As I already said, simple stuff... but what a feast it all becomes!

The first thing I did was to soak the dried Mu-Err mushrooms in boiling water for 10 minutes, (which I will not dare to bore you with) and to boil the Soba noodles for 3 minutes until soft and then to drain them... but first- the fun stuff!

Strangely  enough, I do actually really enjoy chopping-up vegetables... and that is exactly what needs to be done- the carrots into thin slices on the diagonal, the radishes and onion into very fine slices and the ginger into a very fine dice.

By the time I had chopped the veggies, the noodles were done and so I added about 1/3rd of the Spring onion to them, along with a pinch of the finely chopped ginger, a half teaspoon of 5-Spice powder, a drizzle of sesame oil and a nice squeeze of Hoisin sauce.

I especially like to add the onion to the noodles whilst they are still hot, as it doesn't cook them, but reduces any harshness in their flavor. The seasoning also fares better whilst the Soba is hot as the heat tends to extract the flavor from the ingredients. In any case, now is the time to mix and stir everything ell together and then to set them to one side to cool whilst we prepare the rest.

The next ingredient is that lonely little egg- which deserves a little bit of company, don't you think? I added another 1/3 of the Spring onion to it as well as a pinch of ginger and a light sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.

I simply used a fork to beat the egg together and made sure not to mix it too thoroughly as I like to have a mix of egg yolk and egg white in the finished result- it just tastes much more interesting than being a boring, uniform yellow- but that's just MY preference of course!

I fried the little omelette for just 2 minutes from either side and then set it to one side to cool down. Once it was cool, I rolled my simple little omelette up and then cut it into 5-6 bite-sized sections, ready for serving up... but first- those other vegetables needed briefly taking care of!

I sautéed the sliced mushrooms, carrots, radishes, ginger and spring onion in just a touch of sesame oil. Again, I kept the heat set high, so that I didn't have the ingredients in the pan for so long and managed to get them nice and lightly browned off in just a matter of minutes.

After allowing the vegetables to cool, it was time to serve up all of my little goodies- the noodles, fresh pea-sprouts, egg rolls and mixed vegetables together with the fresh mint and coriander to sprinkle generously on top.

I added a nice squeeze of lime juice to the noodles, as well as some tasty, savory Hoisin sauce and roasted sesame to knock the flavor right out of the ball pitch! It was so terrific!

Just a brief word about those pea-sprouts... which were something new to me and just a little tastier and yummier than regular bean sprouts, in as much as that they had a distinct asparagus-like flavor to them... how cool! That, combined with their sweetness and fresh crunch made them a perfect combination with the other ingredients.

A great addition to the egg rolls was a squeeze of Sriracha hot sauce- always a winner- but especially with this dinner!

And there you have it- maybe not authentically Asian (whatever IS that I make? I am Sicilian after all!), but nonetheless delicious, healthy, refreshing, easy, cheap and made in next to no time! Sound familiar? Sure- it's like most of my dishes! But that's ok, because I know what I like... and I hope that you like it too!

Life can be complicated... so I say- let's keep dinner easy!

Enjoy!