Now that the weather is finally warming up, I thought I’d share one of our family’s staple summer dinners– cold Asian noodle salad. It’s tangy, refreshing, a little bit spicy, and the perfect dinner for eating outside in the evenings– perhaps with a cold beer or glass of white wine. Best of all, it comes together in a snap, with ingredients straight out of the pantry. (or if they’re not in your pantry, they should be!)
Cold Asian Noodle Salad (serves 4 generously)
1 lb. udon noodles
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs. rice vinegar
2 tbs. honey
1 tbs. sesame oil
1 tbs. fish sauce
1 tbs. sriracha or other hot sauce
2 tsp crushed garlic
4 large carrots
3 scallions
1. Cook noodles according to package instructions and drain well. Run cold water over noodles to cool them down quickly.
2. In a large bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, honey, oil, fish sauce, sriracha, and garlic.
3. Using a vegetable peeler, slice the carrots into thin strips and dump into the bowl.
4. Slice scallions thinly and place in the bowl.
5. Dump the noodles into the bowl and toss everything to combine.
6. Serve immediately, or chill until ready to serve.
Notes:
- You can make this with regular pasta if you can’t find udon– linguine works fine– but it’s not quite the same. You could also try buckwheat soba if you like the flavor/texture.
- When slicing the carrots, I usually use the peeler on the bottom half of the carrot, then the top half, to keep the strips from being too long. If they’re too long they’ll tangle in the noodles and make them harder to serve.
- Cilantro would also be nice with this– it’s just that not everyone likes it. Feel free to add it if you enjoy the flavor.
It's All Frosting... 