I just love soba. The slightly nutty flavour of buckwheat makes soba much more interesting than your average variety of packet noodles, and I find that they need very little dressing up at all.
Paired with crunchy greens and a sticky ginger teriyaki tofu, this is fresh, summery and perfect for the currently soaring London temperatures. (Maybe less so for the wintery Canberra chill – sorry folks at home).
I must confess that this started off as a one pot recipe in which the soba and greens are all cooked together, but I couldn’t resist the addition of tofu (a weakness of mine). You can of course, omit beancurd if you’re not a fan – top with grilled salmon or use shredded chicken instead.
If you can be bothered though, I highly recommend the tofu. It’s short on hands on cooking time – once cubed and in the oven, you can turn your attention to other things. Coating tofu in soy and corn flour gives it slightly crunchy edges, and a gingery soy glaze over the top brings it all a comforting homey feel. The corn flour on the tofu seeps into the ginger soy, thickening it all to a glossy sauce that coats each cube.
As a bonus, it’s a nice all-in-one meal to turn to when there are varied dietary requirements. This recipe is vegan, and for those on low FODMAP diets – it doesn’t use onion or garlic. For the gluten intolerant, look for 100% buckwheat soba which is naturally gluten free, and of course, gluten free soy sauce.
Soba Noodles with Sugar Snaps, Broccolini, Edamame and Tofu
Ingredients
Tofu
- 250g firm tofu
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp corn flour
- 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce*
- 1 cm grated ginger
Noodles
- 150g dried soba noodles
- 120g sugar snaps trimmed
- 1 bunch broccolini cut into 1 inch lengths
- 100g frozen edamame optional
Miso Soy sauce
- 1 tbsp white miso paste
- 6 tbsp teriyaki sauce*
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ tsp sesame oil optional
to garnish
- ½ tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Drain tofu and cut into 1.5cm cubes. Place into a bowl and drizzle over soy sauce. Sprinkle tofu with corn flour, then spread onto a lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned.
- While the tofu is baking, bring a pot of water to the boil, then add dried soba noodles. Check the packet for cooking times (mine say 4½ minutes) – the aim here is to cook the greens (which will take 3½ minutes) and the noodles in the one pot.
- After one minute, add the sugar snaps, broccolini and edamame to the boiling water and cook for a further 3½ minutes.
- Drain in a colander, and rinse in cold tap water before draining again. This will stop the noodles and vegetables from continuing to cook and get soggy.
- Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Taste and adjust to your preference (see notes), bearing in mind that it will be quite salty at this point – before being added to the noodles.
- For deliciously sticky ginger tofu, heat a small non stick frypan then add teriyaki sauce and ginger and cook over low heat. Add tofu cubes and toss to coat. The corn flour will thicken the teriyaki ginger sauce and help it coat the tofu cubes.
- Tip the noodles and greens into a large mixing bowl, drizzle over the sauce. Serve topped with tofu and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
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