Ginger Soba Noodles Recipe
Soba noodles tossed with a creamy-ginger dressing and topped with crispy tofu, tarragon, and toasted delicata squash seeds.
Some things I liked about the past few week: The girl with red tights and a banjo at the bus stop. Standing at Ocean Beach to watch the surfers. Roasting a pan of teensy delicata squash seeds. The skater kid wearing Japanese paper tape as rings. Happenstance meeting with Joy & Tracy outside Tartine. Seeing my girl Bea get married in Palm Springs. Reading all your nice notes. Me, Wayne, & lots of pelicans standing the shore of the Salton Sea. And eating these soba noodles for lunch.
For those of you who cook/roast/bake as many delicata squash as I do this time of year - their seeds are really fun. They're tiny and tasty, and because everyone else throws them out, you rarely see them around. It's a bit of fuss, but they're great in salads, pastas, brittle, and the like. Just clean them, dry them, and roast them tossed in a bit of olive oil and salt at 350F until extra golden.
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Ginger Soba Noodles
You can certainly make the dressing a day or two ahead of time. Just give it a good shake and a taste before using - then adjust the salt and balance if needed.
12 oz / 340 g dried soba noodles
Ginger Dressing:
1 tablespoon freshly grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup / 2.5 oz / 70 g chopped white onion
1 teaspoon mirin (optional)
2 teaspoons brown sugar or honey
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
3 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1 celery stalk, strings removed, then chopped
1/3 cup / 80 sunflower oil or untoasted sesame oil3 tablespoons of chopped tarragon, plus more to taste
a few big handfuls of cubed tofu, pan-fried or baked until golden
1/3 cup + toasted squash seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or sesame seeds
Cook the soba noodles in well salted water, drain, rinse under cold water, and shake off as much of the water as possible.
In the meantime, make the dressing by combining the ginger, toasted sesame oil, lemon zest and juice, onion, mirin, sugar, salt, vinegar, celery, and sunflower oil in a food processor. Blend until very smooth, then press aggressively through a strainer. Taste and tweak a bit if needed - the dressing should have a bit of bite, and an edge. It'll hit the pasta and you want it to be able to cut the starchiness. Set the dressing aside.
In a large bowl, toss the soba noodles with most of the tarragon, the tofu, most of the squash seeds/nuts, and about 2/3 of the dressing. Really get in there and toss well. Add more dressing if needed (I use all of it), and season again until the noodles are to your liking. It's nice to serve this with a few wedges of lemon on the side, or a bit of brown rice vinegar. Finish with the remaining tarragon and seeds.
Serves 4 - 6.
Prep time: 10 minutes - Cook time: 20 minutes
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Comments
Wonderful! I discovered soba noodles this summer and am always on the look-out for new ways to enjoy them. I already tried your quick peanut sauce (amazing, I blogged about it!) and now I can't wait to try your ginger sauce. Thank you, Heidi! Thank you always—you inspire so many of my cooking endeavors.
This is perfect for a hot day. It is refreshing, simple and healthy. If lack of appetite, this will be a good meal. :)
Soba! So healthy with grains. I do cook soba often, cold in summer and hot in winter. In Japan, we have soba noodle on the New Year's Eve at dinner time to welcome the new year which we hope we will be healthy and live long like how soba looks like.
This looks so good! I absolutely love the flavor of ginger, and cook with it a lot.
I've never had soba noodles but i've been told that i'll love them once i do! i think this would be a great introductory recipe!
This sounds so yummy!
do remove the seed from the shell or do leave it in, if you don't then don't the shell of the seeds get stuck in your teeth even after being roasted, in the middle east they serve these seeds roasted and salted in a bowl with tea or coffee. you crack open the shells with your teeth and eat the lovely seed in the middle.
This may be one of my favorite recipes from you. When I'm not eating vegan junk food I actually eat fairly macrobiotic and this is just the kind of dish I crave! Thank you!
I love using ginger in almost my all dishes, savory and sweet both! I have loved soba noodle, but never made it quite like this. I have to start using mirin more often.
I happened upon the surfers the first Tuesday they were here. So awesome to bike to the beach and then, surprise!, a surfing competition. I'm a big fan of tofu noodle dishes and LOVE the black sesame otsu dish. This sounds like a lovely one, too.
I love watching the surfers at ocean beach and roasting squash seeds too! I did it with butternut squash recently but haven't tried it with delicata squash. Looking forward to trying this recipe!
I'm addicted to pumpkin seeds. I grind them and use them on pasta all the time. I'm gluten free, so I use brown rice pasta, but I'll try 100% buckwheat soba for this tasty treat!
I love roasting squash seeds and snacking on them! In fact, I just did that with some butternut squash seeds tonight :). I've had trouble finding delicata squash, where do you normally get them from? I've struck out at a few farmer's markets and grocery stores...
i love soba noodles!!!
What beautiful times you've had! Delicious looking meal :)
This looks like a delicious lunch!
Soba noodles are one of my all time favorites and this recipe looks fantastic, as always.
I'm really into ginger right now as it has such a nice spice and warms me right up. Roasted squash/pumpkin seeds are also a favorite treat this time of year. Yum.
This is the first year I've ever had delicata squash and now I feel like I was really missing out the past 26! I can't wait to try roasting their seeds - I never thought of that
A lovely and beautifully flavorful meal!
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