The weather had been incredibly hot in the last few days until yesterday.
I made this soba noodles with roasted goodies that was a great success. The cold soba noodles in soy sauce based sauce with a lot of vegetables and baked tofu was absolutely delicious in a refreshing kind of way. Soba is Japanese for buckwheat, which is a nutritious, grain-like seed that’s gluten-free.
I tried quite hard to come up with ideas for making summer dish for dinner in the last few days. Cooking something warm or splodgy didn’t seem appetizing in the hot sweating condition. I decided to make something with soba noodles because I was missing it a lot ever since the weather turned madly hot. Soba noodles are one of Japanese traditional food that we eat during summer season. It helps us to overcome the humid Japanese summer.
This soba noodles with roasted goodies is gluten free, nutritious and pleasantly cold to eat. You can make this with simple ingredients that you might already have in your fridge except soba noodles and wakame that can be purchased in Chinese shops or major supermarkets. For the toppings, you can replace or add different vegetables if you want to! For this recipe I recommend you to cook the vegetables and tofu in the oven. The caramelised flavour goes really well with the entire dish but if you prefer to that’s OK too.
Soba Noodles with Roasted goodies
Ingredients
Baked tofu
- 250 g firm tofu cut into 1.5 cm cubes
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp garlic puree
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Roasted vegetables for the topping
- 1 medium orange or red bell pepper cut in strips
- 3 medium onions sliced in rings
- 10 medium mushrooms sliced
- 2 tbs oil
Other toppings to prepare
- 2 handfuls frozen green beans defrosted
- 8 mini tomatoes sliced
- 1 1/2 tbsp dry wakame rehydrated
- some leek minced for sprinkle
- some dry sesame for sprinkle
Soba noodles with sauce
- 250 g dry soba noodles this can be found in Chinese shops or major supermarkets
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp garlic puree
Instructions
- Mix the soy sauce, garlic puree and the vinegar in a medium bowl. Add the tofu cubes in the bowl and coat with the soy sauce mix. Leave for 15-20 minutes to marinate.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (gas mark 7) and line a baking tray with a baking sheet. Take the tofu out of the soy sauce mix and place them on the baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes, turn over halfway through.
- In a mixing bowl, coat the vegetables with the oil and place them on another baking tray lined with a baking sheet. Roast them for 20-30 minutes, turn over in halfway through if necessary. I roast them for 30 minutes or longer as I like them caramelised.
- Prepare the other toppings while the tofu and the vegetables are cooking in the oven. Set aside.
- Cook the Soba noodles by following the instructions at the back of the package.
- While the noodles are cooking, mix the soy sauce, ginger, vinegar and the garlic in a small bowl Set aside until the noodles are ready to mix with this sauce.
- When noodles are cooked, rinse with cold water. Drain properly and put back in the pot you have used to cook the noodles. Pour in the sauce and mix well. *please see the recipe note below
- Now you have the baked tofu, roasted vegetables, other toppings and the noodles ready to put out on the plates. Put the noodles on each plate and place the roasted vegetables, baked tofu and other toppings nicely.