This isn’t my original idea. It came from a cookbook or magazine article that I honestly cannot locate or recall so I am posting it without crediting the source, my apologies. If I find it in the future, I will update the post. The idea sounded simple enough. Some cooked buckwheat noodles that were then rinsed in cool water to stop the cooking process. Then the noodles were tossed with some thinly sliced napa cabbage, some homemade pickled ginger (recipe here), some chopped green onions and a dressing of Kikkoman soy sauce, sesame oil and lemon. It was extremely light and refreshing. A bit on the sour side for me but good, clean and healthy eating.
If I were to do it over, I would add some freshly fried tempura on the side or maybe incorporate a bit of wasabi into the dressing and add some grilled prawns to the noodles… But this was a wonderful way to showcase the homemade ginger pickles that we made a few days before.
31 Responses
Hi, MM! Am I the first to post a comment? Woohoo!!! :)
Will try this at home when I don’t want to eat rice.
Where can one get buchwheat noodles… haven’t seen any in the SM Supermarkets/Hypermarkets…
My turn to have a typo… lol… I meant where can one get buckwheat noodles….. :)
sarap naman nyan!!kakaguuuuttttoooommm!!! :D
cold soba is one of my favorites.
Cris Jose, they are available in SM supermarkets at “Soba” under the Asian ingredients. Most supermarkets carry them.
I love cold soba; I like making this in the summer but with julienned carrots, cucumber, cabbage, chicken and probably a similar kikkoman dressing.
I always have soba noodles at home. Thanks for the twist. Better find some young ginger first.
We made this yesterday at the beach house in the Outer Banks!!!! Grnted, the pickles were store-bought. I dip the chilled noodles in memmi soup base with scallions and an ice cube.
I also found the recent cookbook Kulinarya:A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine by Glenda Barretto, Gaita, et al. So wonderfully put together, informative, and well-designed. I hope to try my hand at a few of the recipes, of course using your wonderful site as a guide and inspiration, while I’m here and have free time before school starts up again.
Oh, I have a good source for frozen bangus and longanisa and other Filipino products a few blocks away from house in Baltimore so I made pinoy breakfast for the family yesterday.
Anyways, keep up the great an dthoughtful site!!
This looks so healthy! Nice alternative to rice.
Yum, looks delish. You can also pair it with some grilled Unagi. Mmm…hungry now.
Btw, nice photos. I like that you “accessorized” the shot with blue chopsticks. :)
Cris Jose: you can get soba noodles at Japanese grocery stores in Makati/greenhills. And the best part of soba is they cook quickly! 3 minutes in boiling salty water, drain, and top with your favorite tidbits. MM, have you ever topped soba with a soft boiled egg? Some chopped nori, sesame seeds, dash of soy sauce, a dribble of sesame oil.
Looks good, I think I’ll try that myself.
The virtue of this dish is its simplicity and the fact that you can “do-your-own” as you eat or on the fly.
Here is how this was once served to us at a 5 Star hotel in Maui, Hawaii: A large buffet table. You pick your bowl and chopstick, then you pick your noodle of choice (from 5 varieties), then your choice from about 12 veggies (all julienned finely), about 6 varieties of seaweed, then the seafood (prawns, small scallops, smoked tuna, tuna flakes, small oysters), then the meats (from Jamon Serrano to roast beef to chicken breast to grilled chicken liver).
Then a choice of 5 dressings. It was luxurious and a total eating adventure. Your first serving could be all veggie, next veggies/seafood, then meats. It was up to you
I meant to mention. The Chef gave me a couple of “tips” after the meal. Jullien-ing is crucial. Nothing is cut larger in diameter than the noodle. Nooddles at room temp rather than “cold”. Be adventurous, think of throwing in some fruits to complement the toppings. Total fun to do at a party.
MM…second time around…try this: soak dried shitaki mushrooms. When soft, squeeze , “julien-ning” as the Great Silly Lolo would say!…then save the soaking liquid. In a pot, Kikkoman and mirin (ratio…1 part soy to 1/2 part mirin. So say, 1/2 cup soy, 1/4 cup mirin, 2 tbsp. dashi stock, sugar to taste, 1/2 cup shitaki liquid. Let it come to a boil. Let cool. I forgot, grate some ginger and squeeze. You just want the ginger juice…add to taste only. OK…I can just see it now, Chris…bottling this and selling at the bazaar…hahahaha..
Ok…MM…secret ingredient is the shitaki liquid! Do not omit this, Chris!
We always had this in the past month when it was scorching hot here. Hubby says, we are turning into Japanese…can’t live witout cold tofu with furikake and sliced scallions napped with my Ginger-Sesame dressing!…plus this Cold Soba noodle. We prefer this with Crispy pan fried Spicy tofu, though.
Now, fun part…in sake cups, arrange grated daikon, chopped scallions, wsabi paste, shredded nori, julienned carrots. The buckwheat noodle in nice bamboo small platito.
I love healthy meatless posts like this! I love soba noodles but have never thought of adding pickled ginger. Thanks MM.
Hi bettyQ, not too salty in those proportions mentioned? or you just have to be careful not to make the soba swim in the dressing or silly Lolo might get carried away.
BTW, package not in sight yet, I am waiting. In the meantime savoring the XO store bought sauce ( with MSG) when hunger strikes and no cooked food yet. Cheats hubby, pretending to be busy cooking when I have already snacked on old rice and XO. A bit spicy but staves off hunger. Pls check your hotmail once in a while.
Sorry MM for swinging the message by. And thanks for the ride, sure appreciate it as BettyQ lives here.:)
I love cold soba but not a good idea when wearing a white shirt as the sauce is sure to splatter it, hehe. I eat it a lot like how betty q. described. I like mixing all those little condiments into the sauce then dunking the noodles in it. =)
Hey Doc! …no e-mails! hubby says…hey, your girlfriend ditched you!….hahahaha!
This is the way we eat this soba at home…We just take a chopstickful of the soba and dip it in the dipping sauce. This way, mas matipid. if I were to pour the dipping sauce in the bowlful of soba…I have to boil again since it will be gone before I even get the chance to sit down and eat!.
I think it this will work with even the thin miki if soba is not readily available or even the Vietnamese pho noodle. Mind you, we are PANCIT people more so than potatoe people!
Betty Q: I just saw XO sauce in Connie C’s comment and remembered I have not done your XO sauce yet so I google searched and chanced upon Marketman’s fried rice with your XO sauce and suddenly have a craving for it which I plan to do over the weekend. Thing is, I checked out the ingredients and I saw chinese ham, dried shrimp and dried scallops. I think I have seen dried shrimp in the grocery but I’m not sure about the dried scallops. Is that available in chinese groceries in Chinatown? I have looked all over chinatown for chinese ham in the past since we were used to having that every Christmas back in the Philippines but they don’t have it. The ones I asked in Chinatown don’t even know what Chinese ham or Yunnan ham is so we just get Smithfield ham. Is it okay to sub with this? Or is there anybody out there from Los Angeles who knows where I can buy real chinese ham and dried scallops? Thank you very much.
Sorry made a mistake, I meant Hoc Shiu ham and not Yunnan ham which is in cans and which they do have in Chinatown.
Lilibeth…no need to go out and look for Chinese ham. an excellent sub is prosciutto. You can buy as much as you need to make. I can always buy it in nearby grocery stores and don’t need to make a field trip to Chinatown (it takes me 45 minutes to go there and that is travelling on the freeway!)
I am positive you can buy the dried scallops in LA. Maria Clara or Alilay can tell you where! Now, when you find it, don’t go overboard and buy as I have said before the primera clase…go for the really tiny ones that when you soak it will be just about the size of bay scallops. That will do since you are going to shred or process it anyway. No one will ever know it is the cheapest ones…Besides, who cares? Once they eat your fried rice with XO, nothing you say will register in their brain! All they will ask you is if they can make BAON (to take home!)
Ted: you, too? sent me an e-mail? Oh, dear …this is MAJOR HINAYUPAK na annoying!!!! I was beginning to think that you guys all ditched me!
Great, Betty Q, thanks! I get my prosciutto from Costco which is very near my place. LA Chinatown is close by too – 10 mins. away. Thank you so much. I am getting hungry already after looking at Marketman’s XO fried rice.
Lilibeth, you can get the dried scallops and hibe (packed in 1 lb. bag) sa Chinatown at the Tak Shing Hong Grocery 835 N. Broadway LA 90012 213-628-8333 and there is also a store who sell them unpacked in fact same price at mas maganda ang klase mas whiter ba siya i forgot the cross st. basta nasa broadway din siya maybe a few blocks from the arko of chinatown.
i make these at home as well ;P but with the soba sauce ( i cant read the label, just asked a japanese person in the store which dip was for soba), a pinch of grated ginger, sugar and a squirt of wasabi. sometimes i mix it with seasoned laver on top or flaked tuna.
It is a lovely day – all these food chatter and helpful exchanges again! Thank you MM and all who participate and comment thoughtfully, generously, wittily.
To Ally & Mila : Thanks for the info… :)
Alilay: Thank you so much for all that information. I will try and go to Chinatown this weekend and I hope I find the store where you say the dried scallops are whiter. Thanks.
I love this, but it never occurred to me that we could make it at home! Thanks also for the tips, betty q., my stomach is grumbling already.