Several months back, I blogged about my first attempt to make soba and an accompanying sauce at home. That attempt was unfortunately unsuccessful, with a result lacking in both flavor and consistency.
Following that result though, I was not deterred – I bought more dried soba a few weeks later, and went back to the internet to determine a v2. I quickly settled on a Mark Bittman recipe that would also make use of the leftover tahini in my fridge.
I followed the preparation directions pretty closely – which were quite easy to follow – but I modified the ingredients to what I had at home, to what flavors I thought I would like (more spice), and to the different soba quantity in my packet (8 oz. v the 12 oz. called for in the recipe). The ingredients I ended up using for approximately 3 main course servings were:
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1/2 cup well-stirred tahini
- 8 oz. soba
- 1 serrano chile, chopped and seeded
- A few shakes of tabasco sauce
- salt and black pepper
- 1 medium cucumber
- Scallions for garnish
I think this quantity of sauce probably could work for 12 oz. of noodles, and I also really liked the tabasco addition, so might use more of that in the future. I also may add tofu to this dish in the future as well to make it more substantial.
Otherwise, this recipe is definitely a keeper – you can actually put together the sauce in the time that the soba boils, and it has rich, complex flavors with the tahini, vinegar, soy sauce and scallions – yum!
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