Japanese Style Noodle Dish

I was inspired by the Sansai Udon Noodle dish I usually order at my favorite restaurants. All you need is miso and some key ingredients and you're good to go. I cheated by using Trader Joe's instant miso soup, which by the way is very yummy on its own.

Ingredients:
Miso (instant soup from Trader Joe's)
Broccoli
Shiitake Mushrooms
Canola Oil
Somen or Udon Noodles

Optional:
Panko Flakes

Preheat oven 400º before chopping broccoli and slicing mushrooms. Place veggies on oil lined pan dashing with some canola oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes. Prepare one packet of miso soup. Boil the soup then place noodles in soup. Cook until noodles are done. Noodles should absorb most of the liquid.

Take out crispy vegetables from the oven and top the noodles in the miso base. Sprinkle with panko flakes for extra flavor.

Tahini Noodles

Cold Tahini Noodles are great for the hot weather. Inspired by the Vegan Yum Yum recipe and the Real Food Daily Sesame noodles (no longer on the menu)... here is a nice almost raw and all vegan cold noodle recipe. This recipe takes a little preparation, but it's fairly easy to make.

Required: Broccoli, Carrots, Cabbage, Linguine Noodles, Tahini, Mint, Sugar, Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Mustard, Salt, Black Pepper

Optional: Sesame seeds, Shiitake Mushrooms

First before doing anything you should boil the noodles. I used Linguine which I thought was the perfect noodle for this dish.

Next, prepare the Tahini dressing-like sauce with the following:

1/4 cup Tahini
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
3 Tbsp Water
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Red Chili
1 tsp Mustard (I used Dijon)
1 pinch salt to taste
Dashes of Black Pepper

Mix all of the above in a bowl. Use a whisk until completely mixed. Let sit. In the meantime, check on your boiling water and noodles. When the noodles are finished please drain and run cold water over the strain. Place a few drops of olive oil in the pasta. Let it sit in the refrigerator.

Chop your broccoli into smaller pieces. I got my broccoli from Trader Joe's so I just cut the small pieces in quarters. Then take two carrots, peel and slice. Take 1/4 of your cabbage and shred. I don't have a shredder so I just sliced the cabbage thinly with a knife. Mix the veggies together. For giggles, I added some cooked shiitake mushrooms. I cooked them in oil and soy sauce. Mix all of the veggies in one bowl.

Once your noodles have been chilled enough, take them out of the fridge. Place some in a bowl. Add the semi raw veggies. Add some sesame seeds. Stir in the Tahini sauce. Mix well. Try not to put in too much since it might get salty quickly. Add some chopped mint leaves. Keep stirring until you see the sauce completely covering everything!

Taste the sauce before you add it to your noodle dish. You want to make sure the sauce is to your liking so you can adjust the ingredients before mixing it with your veggies.

Lastly, throw on some chopped mint leaves as garnish!

Spicy Chinese Inspired Scramble

Broccoli, tofu and bean sauce are featured in this dish. It's easy, I promise!

Required: Broccoli, Bean Sauce (you can get this in any Asian grocery store), Spices (black pepper or Sri Ra Cha - pictured here), Sesame Oil or Canola Oil

Optional: Somen Noodles or Rice, Tofu, Peanuts or Cashews, Chili Oil

I always have to have carbs with my dishes, thus the Somen. But you can make this without noodles or rice. If you want to make the noodles, I would suggest boiling the noodles first. If you are making rice, you should prepare it well in advance. The noodles took less than 5 minutes to cook.

While the noodle was boiling. I crumbled the tofu. (After the noodles were finished boiling, I added some Sesame and Hot Chili Oil as well as a little soy sauce to the drained noodles.) You can use a fork for mushing. Then I used about 1 to 2 tablespoons to oil a pan with sesame oil. I let the pan heat up. I added pre-chopped broccoli into the pan and sauteed for a bit. I like my broccoli crispy but not soft; use your own judgement here. After I decided the broccoli was almost where I wanted it, I added the crumbled tofu. I then took another 1 to 2 tablespoons of black bean sauce and added to the mix. Black bean sauce is very salty so there's no need to add salt. (I learned this the hard way once.) After that, you have to push everything around in the pan until the ingredients are mingling well enough. Cook to taste. I added a little black pepper and Sri Ra Cha which is Chinese hot sauce.

This saute went over Somen noodles.

Done in 20 minutes!