Asian-ish Noodle Soup

Faux-Asian is a cooking style that I tend to frequently employ for myself. By adding a dash of soy sauce and sesame oil, it feels like my food has been influenced by a similar amount of East Asian culture. And as one who is ethnically half East Asian, I sometimes feel like a faux Asian myself. But my food only benefits from that influence! In the vein of soup and making meals for myself, I wanted to use up the last of my soba noodles that have been sitting in the pantry for over a year. It’s a good thing that they seemingly would never expire, even though it was that very reason that led me to forget about them. Carrots also seem to last indefinitely, and since they were sitting neglected in the fridge they went into this meal-for-one as well. Because I’m a big fan of garlic, I left the pieces large and chunky so enjoy once they had been softened by the boiling water. Ginger is a bit weird and stringy, and if you don’t feel like munching on that spicy stringy root, remember to take out the slices that are used to flavor the broth.

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 bowl of noodle soup

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/2 inch piece peeled ginger
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium is fine)
• 1/4 tsp miso paste (optional)
• 1/3 cup salted seaweed
• 1 small bunch enoki mushrooms
• 2 oz soba noodles
• Furikake, Sriracha, sesame oil, and/or green onions for garnish

Instructions

1. Roughly chop the garlic, carrots, and seaweed; thinly slice the ginger.
2. Add the garlic, carrots, and ginger to two cups of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. As it boils, stir in seaweed, soy sauce, and miso paste.
3. When it begins to boil again, add the noodles and mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the noodles are al dente. Pour into a bowl and serve immediately.

Kale Soba Salad

Sometimes I come back to my apartment very hungry and wanting to eat as soon as possible. For a quick and healthy dinner, kale mixed with eggs has been my go-to, even if it doesn’t sound like much. A few days ago I added roasted sweet potato and soba I had sitting in the pantry, and that made my sad dinner scramble into a satisfying meal.

The beauty of this kind of cooking is that everything can be thrown together and adjusted to one’s personal tastes– what’s written here is just an outline of what yours could be. If you change the proportions, add more veggies, take out the egg, use tofu or spinach, you don’t have to worry about it not coming out right since there is no one way. There are many modern versions of soba salad, and this is one of the simple versions utilizing easy-to-find ingredients.

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Yield: one bowl of kale soba salad

Ingredients

• 1 small sweet potato
• 2 tbsp cooking oil – olive, grape seed, canola (the choice is yours)
• Pinch of salt + ground ginger +garlic powder
• 4 handfuls of chopped kale
• 1 egg
• About 2oz of uncooked soba noodles
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp or so sesame oil
• Ideas for add-ons: chopped green onions, toasted sesame seeds, nori, Sriracha or chili oil

Instructions

For the sweet potato:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Since this is also a prep part, fill a quart-sized saucepan halfway with water and set it on high heat so the noodles will be done around the same time.
2. Clean and chop the sweet potato into half-inch cubes.
3. Toss them in 1tbsp oil and sprinkle with salt, ginger, and garlic powder.
4. Roast the sweet potato for 15-20 minutes or until the pieces are soft and can be easily punctured by a fork.

For the kale and egg:

1. While the sweet potato is cooking, heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat.
2. Add the kale and stir around for a few minutes, until it begins to wilt. Add the soy sauce and stir. If things are looking dry, add a tbsp or two of water.
3. Add the egg or tofu and continue to stir around until the egg is cooked.

For the soba noodles and assembly:

1. Cook the noodles according to package directions, usually 3-4 minutes in boiling water.
2. Once they are done, take off heat immediately, drain, and rinse with cool water or put over ice to stop from cooking more.
3. In a bowl, add the kale + egg, soba noodles, sweet potato, and sesame oil. Toss until it looks like you’ll end up with a little bit of everything in each bite.

Enjoy this unconventional soba salad that’s easy to make and easy to make fancier if you so desire.