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Cold sesame noodles are tossed with a shaved cucumber and mango salad for a crisp and cool summer lunch or dinner option.
I wanted to bring you one more recipe for the summer before taking a creative break. I’ll be spending most of August with my sweet little family (how is my son already two months old?), working on backend blog projects, and updating old-but-popular recipes. I might pop in with a new recipe here and there, but the point of this break is to free myself from scheduled commitments. Something I don’t do often enough ;)
This is such a simple recipe, but we go bananas over it in this house. It’s cool with a tiny pinch of heat in the flavor, and it’s a great way to scarf down noodles in the dead of summer—because another thing we go bananas over in this house is carbs.
There are numerous ways to enjoy cold soba noodles. A popular way is serving up this cold soba noodle salad with spicy peanut sauce at cookouts. Or zaru soba! Which is a quick and simple lunch option you can enjoy all on your own.
Away from the table…
Netflix! I recently became enamored with The Mind of a Chef, which can be found on the ‘flix. Ludo Lefebvre in particular. If you love cooking and the stories that go behind a chef and their dishes, you have to have
Impossible Burger! The now-famous Impossible Burger has been turning up in a lot of restaurants this year. Next month, it will be hitting store shelves. Have you tried it? Will you be buying it and cooking it at home?
Podcasts! The Splendid Table has revealed a new podcast with cookbook author and New York Times writer Melissa Clark: Weeknight Kitchen. It kicks off on Wednesday, September 4th. I’m thrilled about this. I have Melissa Clark’s cookbook Dinner: Changing the Game, and it’s fed me tons of inspiration for weeknight dinners. I’m looking forward to seeing what the podcast has to offer.
If you try this recipe or create your own variation, let me know in the comments! I love connecting with you. Then snap a photo and tag me on the Insta @killing__thyme to be featured in our newsletter.
Cold Sesame Noodles with Shaved Cucumber and Mango Salad
Ingredients
Cold Sesame Noodles.
- 4 oz dry soba noodles
- 2 TBSP sesame oil
- 3 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
- 2 TBSP rice vinegar
- 2 tsp honey
- 2 tsp sambal oelek
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated or minced
- 1 TBSP grated or minced ginger
Cucumber Mango Salad.
- 4 Kirby cucumbers, shaved into ribbons (use a potato peeler and shave vertically until you reach the seeds. When you reach the seeds, stop and continue onto the other sides of the cucumber.), *See notes
- 1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 3 TBSP thinly sliced scallions
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 2 TBSP freshly chopped parsly
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 TBSP sesame seeds
Garnish.
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
- Extra sesame seeds (optional)
- Extra scallions (optional)
Instructions
Cold Sesame Noodles.
- Cook soba noodles as per the directions on the package. When done, drain and rinse under cool water until the noodles have cooled down. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sambal oelek, minced garlic, and minced ginger. Taste, and adjust heat to your preference by adding more sambal oelek if needed. Set aside.
Cucumber Mango Salad.
- Place the shaved cucumber, mango matchsticks, and sliced scallions in a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame oil, rice vinegar, freshly chopped parsley, salt, and sesame seeds. Drizzle this mixture over the cucumber, mango, and scallions. Toss to evenly coat and set aside.
Assembly.
- Place the soba noodles in a large bowl and drizzle them with the soy and sambal oelek mixture. Toss to coat. Divide the noodles into serving bowls, top each bowl with the shaved cucumber and mango salad, and garnish with chopped peanuts. Sprinkle some extra sesame seeds and scallions on there if desired!
