I am working normalish hours for a change in the lead up to my holiday, and not from my own home, so it means that I actually have the opportunity to test my work lunch recipes on me me me! This salad is super tasty, and the perfect thing to make for work lunches as it takes very little time – ideal right?

It’s full of fresh vegetables and zingy flavour thanks to that easy dressing. It’s also actually filling because of the soba noodles and the extra burst of protein from the egg and edamame.

Unless I’m eating leftovers I will very rarely have meat at lunch so getting protein from alternative sources is really important. Otherwise I end up hungry an hour after eating. I usually try to include legumes, cheese/yoghurt, eggs, nuts or tofu in my lunches to get enough protein in to avoid that mid afternoon slump. In this case we’ve got the egg and edamame. This salad is enough to keep me full for a few hours – at the moment I’m usually having a chia pudding, fruit, a bliss ball or a homemade icey pole (if it’s hot) in the afternoon.

Back to this salad though: There’s very little cooking to do in this recipe. You’re basically just boiling water and chopping things. I feel most people can handle this level of expertise. If you can’t be bothered making pretty ribbons out of your carrot then just grate it. If you do make the ribbons you will end up with a floppy (what a word) looking carrot center at the end. A great idea of using this is to… eat it. Carrot is good for you, it is a low calorie snack, just eat it as you’re cooking. Chef’s snacks!

The dressing on this is all simple, zingy and YUM. I love me some toasted sesame seeds on soba noodles, they just bring extra flavour to the party and you want a lunch you can look forward to! I keep on saying that this is a lunch thing but be your own boss and eat this bowl of fresh goodness whenever you please.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 eggs

90g Soba noodles

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbs lime juice

1/2 cup podded edamame

1 large carrot

2 radishes, finely sliced

1 Lebanese cucumber or 1/2 a continental cucumber

1/3 cup finely sliced spring onion

1 Tbs sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Boil eggs for 6 minutes and 30 seconds, remove and place in a bowl of iced water.

Bring water back to the boil and add noodles. Cook for 4 minutes (or according to packet instructions). Drain and rinse under cold water.

Combine ginger, lime juice, soy and oil in a small bowl or jar and stir or shake until well combined. Toss the noodles in this dressing along with 1/2 the sesame seeds.

Use a vegetable peeler to create long ribbons of carrot. You should have 2 loosely packed cups worth.

Cut cucumber into a 1 cm dice.

Blanch the edamame beans in their pods for 1 minute, pod.

Arrange bowls with the noodles and carrot on the top and the other vegetables arranged on top. Peel the eggs and slice in half, place on top of your salad and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds. Eat!

HH. x