Soba Noodle Salad with Edamame

This is a recipe that I have wanted to try for a long time now.  The only issue was finding soba noodles!  They are noodles made from buckwheat flour, and apparently most supermarkets around here are against carrying them.  When I ran into them at Market Basket, I bought a few packages of them and then grabbed the other ingredients I hadn't already stockpiled to make this soba noodle salad with edamame.

I actually made the sauce for this salad the day before, though not because I am some excellent meal planner or anything; I know for a fact that I had bought a cabbage, but it was MIA and I was too tired to run out and grab one.  So the next night, I stopped on the way home and grabbed a cabbage, and thus began phase 2 of soba noodle salad.  Not that the sauce took that long to make, but just as an FYI, it was totally acceptable to make it the night before and be eating dinner the next night with about 10 minute's work!  The sauce, by the way, is made of a wonderful mixture of thinks like soy sauce, orange juice, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic.

Basically on day 2, all I had to do was shred the carrots and cabbage, cook the noodles, and throw it all together, topped with sesame seeds and scallions.

How was it?  Let me put it to you this way.  My mom is always a bit nervous around anything other than "normal" pasta so she grabbed a tiny bowl to try a bite of it just to be polite.  That tiny bowl was discarded almost immediately upon her first bite, and she grabbed a real bowl and filled it right up :)  She and Kenzie both admitted they loved it way more than they thought they would.  Rachael and Mark loved it as well, and it was all eaten up between lunches and dinners over the next day or two.  Quick, easy, healthy, and delicious!


Recipe:

soba noodle salad with edamame
from Flourishing Foodie
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon Sriracha hot chile sauce
1 tablespoon ginger
1 clove garlic
2 cups frozen edamame beans, thawed
1/2 pound (8 ounces) dry soba noodles
4 cups napa cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrots, shredded
2 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
2-3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Instructions:

1) In a food processor, add the soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, canola oil, sesame oil, orange juice, Sriracha, ginger, and garlic.  Pulse until the ginger and garlic have become minced.  Set to the side.

2) Thaw the edamame beans in a bowl of cold water.

3) Shred the cabbage and carrots together.  Slice the green onions.  Set to the side.

4) Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add the soba noodles and boil following the directions on the back of the package.  Once cooked, rinse under cold water and then let sit for 2 minutes in a bowl of cold water.  Rinse again.

5) In 4 medium sized bowls, place 1 1/4 cup cups of the cabbage/carrot mixture on the bottom.  Layer with the soba noodles and edamame.  Drizzle the sauce on top and then finish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.