It’s noodle bowl time again. This is a delicious cold noodle salad that makes for a quick and easy dinner or lunch. It’s sort of Japanese meets Middle Eastern food and I’m okay with that because I love these flavours together.

I think I have a tahini issue. I’ve been using it a lot lately, mostly in dressings, caramel and hummus. It’s quickly becoming an addiction, not that that’s an issue right? I didn’t even used to be a fan of it (old me was an idiot) so maybe I’m just making up for lost time?

The dressing is pretty much the most difficult part about this dish and that’s only because you have to measure ingredients. The rest of the ‘hard’ work is some slicing and dicing to prepare the veg and some boiling of noodles and eggs. If you use the 100% buckwheat noodles like I did you will get an excellent nutty flavour, and a slightly more difficult cooking process. It’s also key to refresh and dress them in a little oil straight away to avoid them sticking and getting slimy.

I see a lot more of these noodle bowls in my life as the weather warms up. It’s probable going to join this green goddess noodle bowl on high rotation. I also just love bowl food that i can eat outside in my backyard on lap in the late evening sun. Which has been an actual thing in Melbourne over the last week. This city comes through with the goods sometimes (I mean weather wise, in terms of general non weather related brilliance it comes through with the goods a lot).

Serves 4

Ingredients

250g soba noodles (I use these 100% buckwheat ones)

½ tsp sesame oil

1 Tbs black sesame seeds

1 head broccoli

1 Lebanese cucumber

1 Avocado, finely sliced

4 radishes

2 spring onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup coriander, leaves

1 birds eye chilli, finely sliced

4 eggs

Dressing

3 Tbs Tahini

juice and zest of 1 lime

1 small crushed clove of garlic

1 Tbs olive oil

2 Tbs water

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Directions

Make dressing by combining ingredients in a jar and shaking well until smooth.

Cook noodles according to packet instructions. Refresh in cold water and immediately dress with the sesame oil and seeds. Set aside.

Soft boil eggs by bringing a pot of water to the boil, placing eggs in ti and boiling for 6 -7 minutes. Remove from water, and cool in a bowl of iced water. Peel once cold.

Separate broccoli into bite sized florets and steam for a couple of minutes until bright green but still a little crunchy. Slice cucumber into 3mm thick slices. Slice Julienne radish.

Use ½ the dressing to dress your noodles. You want a generous coating of the dressing on them. Place in the bottom of the bowl and top with the other ingredients, finishing with the soft boiled egg, slice in half and the spring onion, coriander, chilli and radish on top. Serve the remaining dressing on the side.

HH. x