Soba Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce

I’ve been bombarded with deadlines recently with not a lot of time left for anything else. Recipes like these are such blessings during busy times like now. It is such an amazing recipe in so many ways - its healthy, its super quick and uses up all your leftover veggies. While making this salad I literally went through my fridge and pulled out things that could be eaten raw. Cucumber, cauliflower, broccoli, bell pepper, scallion, lettuce, carrot and tomatoes. You eat all of this without cooking them and get so much nutrition out of it while enjoying a delicious meal.

Soba noodles have been recently added to my list of healthy things that I really enjoy eating. Another one is Chia seeds, but we will talk about that in some other post. Unlike whole wheat pasta - which no matter how I try to make, cant really get myself to like the taste of it….I actually find the buckwheat flavor mild and nice. It goes really well with the fresh veggies and the peanut sauce.

The peanut sauce is actually quiet versatile - I’ve been drizzling it over different salads and I particularly like it with the Vietnamese fresh spring rolls (which I’ve been making a lot recently as well). I use homemade peanut butter - but a jar of store bought would work great as well. Also, I used plum sauce to make this peanut sauce, but any sweet chili sauce will work great too. If you like it spicier - just add a few squirts of sriracha and you would be good to go. This salad has surely become one of my favorites! Give it a try - it might become yours too.

Serving 2 to 3 people

cooking time 20 minutes

Ingredients

For Peanut Sauce

1/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth - whatever you like)

1 1/2 tbsp plum sauce or any sweet chili sauce

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp warm water

In a large bowl add all the ingredients and mix well till it forms a smooth sauce. Add more water (little at a time) if the sauce feels thick. Keep aside.

For the salad

Soba noodles

broccoli, cut into small bite size pieces - handful

cauliflower, cut into small bite size pieces - handful

1 small carrot, peeled and cut into think sticks

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into think sticks

some scallions, (green part included) cut into 1 inch stick/pieces

handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

1 cup iceberg lettuce leaves, roughly torn/chopped

tofu -cut into bite size, lightly sauteed in oil,

salt

1. Boil soba noodles as per the package instructions.
2. In a large bowl add the noodles and all the other salad ingredients. Sprinkle little salt and toss it well.
3. Add the peanut sauce and toss the salad really well - you want all the veggies and noodles to be coated in the sauce evenly. Serve right away.

Note: Run soba noodles under cold tap water as soon as they are cooked. It will stop them from sticking to each other. Leave it in the colander for sometime (till the water is completely drained) before adding the noodles to the salad.