February Daring Cooks Challenge: Cold Soba Salad and Tempura

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl with recipes courtesy of Globetrotter Diaries and about.com-Japanese food.

I was excited about this challenge because I love Japanese food and I have a great market nearby where I could find some of the more exotic ingredients.  

Some of the ingredients

Soba Noodles

12 oz of Soba Noodles

2 liters water

In a large stock pot, bring water to a boil.  Add the noodles and bring back to a boil.  Add 1 cup of cold water.  Bring back to a boil and add another cup of cold water.  Check for tenderness, noodles should be firm yet tender.  Drain in a colander and run cold water over the noodles.  Drain and put a damp kitchen towel over them until they cool completely.

Dipping Sauces

There were two options for sauces and I chose to do both!  I am an admitted salt lover and I wanted to try both.  I liked one sauce significantly more than the other because the green onions added such flavor and the sauce had a nice kick.

Spicy Dipping Sauce

The idea behind soba noodles is to slurp the noodles by taking the noodles and dipping them into the sauce.  A great recipe is defined by the delicious dipping sauce.  Slurp slurp!  

Spicy Dipping Sauces

3/4 cup finely chopped green onions

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp English mustard

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

salt and pepper to taste

Traditional Dipping Sauce

2 cups dashi stock

1/3 cup sodium

1/3 cup mirin

The traditional sauce didn't suit my fancy but I love green onions and the spicy one hit the spot.  Dashi was very difficult to find and I think the particular brand I got just wasn't that good.  The spicy sauce was made with ingredients I usually have in my pantry.  I used hot chinese mustard instead of the powder because that's what I had on hand.  I think it was a nice substitution.

The tempura was just as easy as I thought it would be.  I decided to keep it simple and use carrots, bell pepper, green beans, and mushrooms.

The vegetables

Tempura Batter

1 egg yolk

1 cup ice water

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

oil for frying

ice water bath for bowl of batter

Add egg to water and beat.  Add dry ingredients and beat until loosely combined.  The recipe says the batter should be lumpy but I felt mine was so watered down.  I ended up dipping the vegetables  in the batter and then coating it with panko crumbs.  I also found the batter to be a bit bland and would add some salt next time.  I know that usually the tempura is dipped in a sauce but I sometimes just like to have the tempura on it's own.   Overall, the meal was easy to make but I think the recipes need some fine tuning for next time.  I will try the batter again to see if I can get it thick enough to forgo the panko next time.  I enjoyed this recipe because it was a type of cuisine I love but also very simple to make.