When Kimiko and I were kids, one of our favorite summertime dishes that our mom made was “cold noodles.” And now that I’m the mom, I like it even more because it’s quick and easy. It only has three ingredients (four if you count the water) and takes minutes to prepare.
Somen is the Japanese version of angel hair pasta. It is made from wheat flour and is long and skinny with a circular cross section. It is much skinnier than angel hair, however, so be careful not to overcook it. It only takes about three minutes to boil. I also suggest using a mesh strainer to drain them rather than a colander. They tend to slip right through the larger holes of my colander.
As far as the miso soup goes, I know, I’m cheating by using a just-add-water mix. Some day I will master miso soup from scratch. But for now this is how I do it. And it wouldn’t be a quick, cool summer dinner if I had to make soup.
I buy the somen and miso soup mix at WinCo in the Asian food section. They don’t carry the memi sauce so I have to buy that at Safeway or Raley’s. If you can’t find the ingredients in your regular grocery store, see if you have an Asian food market in your area.
Cold Noodles (Somen and Miso Soup)
Somen noodles (1 bundle per person)
Instant miso soup mix
Boiling water
Memi sauce
Boil noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. If not using right away, add some ice cubes and store in fridge in strainer. Pour mix into bowls. Add boiling water per package directions. Serve with pot of cold noodles and memi sauce.
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| I served an Asian-style salad on the side. |
2 comments:
do you know off hand if that soup mix has dairy in it?
It does not!! Asian cooking in general does not use much dairy, if any. When the boys were younger, we had them on a dairy free diet--I never realized how much dairy we eat! Asian was always an easy way to avoid milk and milk products.
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