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Soba Noodle Salad Recipe

Filed under Pasta, Salad, Vegetarian

Soba Noodle Salad

Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who prepared this fabulous salad for us the other day. Big, big hit. ~Elise

"Very tangy and sweet! With just enough crunch from the peanuts."

"It's so colorful and aromatic, you can just smell the mint and garlic!"

The compliments Elise and I praised this salad with are plentiful. Really, this is a wonderful spring and summer salad, with Asian inspiration. Soba noodles, if you are not familiar with them, are thin Japanese noodles made with buckwheat flour, and are often served cold. Soba noodles can be found in the Asian aisle of many markets; they have a nice body to them and an earthy, old world taste. In this noodle salad, the mango, mint, and various other flavors contrast and match well with each other, giving the whole salad a good balance.

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Soba Noodle Salad Recipe

You can make this dish a few hours in advanced, or even the night before and let the soba chill and marinate, just be sure not to add the peanuts, mint and basil until just before serving. It's a nice dish that can make either six large meals, or 12 well portioned sides.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 jalapeño chile pepper, seeded and minced
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • Zest of one lime
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 12 ounces soba noodles
  • 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 large ripe mango, peeled and chopped into cubes
  • 1 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1 cup chopped fresh mint
  • 1 cup chopped roasted, salted peanuts
  • Lime wedges for serving (optional)

Method

1 Place the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until the sugar and salt dissolve. Stir in the garlic and jalapeño, and allow to cool. Add the lime juice, lime zest, and sesame oil and mix well.

2 Cook the noodles in salted water, until al dente, according to the package instructions. Drain and then rinse well under cool water. Transfer the noodles to a large bowl and toss with the dressing.

3 Add the mango, bell pepper, basil and mint. Toss and plate. Serve with chopped peanuts sprinkled over the top and lime wedges.

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Posted by Garrett McCord on May 7, 2008 and indexed Pasta Salad, Soba

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Comments

This looks great, I make a version of this but I have never added mango, I will have to try that next time.

Posted by: Katerina on May 7, 2008 12:07 PM

Right up my alley, and mango sounds great in here! I hope to taste something like this in a few weeks!

Posted by: Nick on May 7, 2008 12:57 PM

This is gorgeous...maybe this is the time to ask something I've been wondering about mangoes. Took a couple home from the supermarket recently and when I ate them, it was a HUGE mess. They fruit didn't come away from the pit, although they certainly tasted ripe. What am I missing here? Do I need to be more careful about picking them out? What about refrigeration? Yes/no? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Here's some great advice on how to pick a ripe mango from our friends at Cookthink. ~Elise

Posted by: Heather on May 7, 2008 1:16 PM

I love that there's no soy sauce in this recipe. Much lighter than other variations on soba salad.

Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) on May 7, 2008 1:32 PM

This looks great. Interesting recipe, sounds like a great combination of flavors. I will have to try it sometime.

Posted by: Bobby on May 7, 2008 1:53 PM

Hmmm, I have never tasted soba, yet I am Japanese!

Posted by: Vovock on May 7, 2008 4:43 PM

This post and the one it links to made me homesick for mangoes. It's mango season in India now and I just had a disappointing encounter with the Mexican mangoes you find in California. Anyone who has tried Alphonso mangoes is spoiled for life I guess. :)
The salad looks good enough to compensate for that disappointment though. :)

Posted by: Uma on May 7, 2008 11:27 PM

That sounds like a light and colorful make-ahead dish. Perfect for all the summer get togethers coming up!

Posted by: Lisa (Show Me Vegan) on May 8, 2008 5:04 AM

So, we would love to make this, but someone is allergic to mango (and watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew - any melon really). What would you sub in to make up for the taste? Or just leave it out altogether?

This is a matter of taste, in my opinion. Maybe something outside of your regular fruit substitute would work? Freshly cut coconut might make for a perfect stand-in and would compliment the existing flavors. ~Garrett

Fresh pineapple chunks might work nicely here as well. ~Elise

Posted by: Nikki on May 8, 2008 8:22 AM

So can I eat this right after I cook it or do I need to put it in the fridge for X number of hours first? Thanks!

Either way works fine. I ate some right away, then put the rest in a container until lunch the next day. ~Garrett

Posted by: typome on May 8, 2008 4:00 PM

Made it tonight and it was a hit! Thanks for such a great recipe!

Posted by: Tartelette on May 8, 2008 9:13 PM

Didn't have mint so I subbed cilantro for it. It was fantastic. Next time I'll track down fresh mint so I can make it again!

Posted by: CJ on May 9, 2008 2:48 AM

Hey this was preetty yummy, especially cold! It's sort of similar to the vermicelli on this website.

Posted by: typome on May 9, 2008 4:22 PM

This looks really colorful and fresh!

My mother likes to make soba noodles with a soy sauce + wasabi dipping sauce, lots of thin strips of nori, and freshly grated daikon (finely grated into a slushy-like consistency). The nori and daikon are used like condiments which we heap onto the noodles every so often and the noodles are dipped into the soy sauce. It is really tasty, simple, and refreshing. I'm pretty sure this is not the traditional Japanese way to eat soba, as I am Korean, but I don't think I can call it a Korean style soba either. I think my mom just made it up!

Posted by: Sylvia on May 9, 2008 6:07 PM

I tried this recipe and it's great! I added one green apple and tomato. Totally went well with the mango and soba.

Refreshing with the lime juice and rice vinegar as well. Love it! Thanks!

Posted by: belle on May 10, 2008 4:59 AM

This looks wonderful! A perfect warm-weather meal (if we ever get warm weather!)

Posted by: Deborah Dowd on May 11, 2008 5:22 PM

Absolutely amazing! Wonderful flavor, wonderful color. This is my new favorite salad recipe of all time.

Posted by: Kathy on May 12, 2008 9:08 PM

I made this for dinner last night and it was amazing! Perfect for a hot night, like last night. I had the hardest time finding soba noodles (and I live in the East Bay) - finally got them at Whole Foods. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!!

Posted by: Anu on May 14, 2008 7:36 AM

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