When it’s HOT I like nothing more than a bowl of spiced cold noodles to cool me down. If you have only ever eaten them hot before you are going to have to trust me when I say that cold noodles are seriously good. The whole meal takes 10 minutes max to prepare, which is even better when the sun is shining and you don’t really fancy spending too long over the stove.

The crunch of the cucumber noodles and nuts (from the crunchy peanut butter) really complement this dish and the spring onion and garlic also add delicious notes throughout the dish. The star of the dressing, in my mind, is chinkiang black rice vinegar, which is also known as Chinese black vinegar. I adore the stuff and if you love Chinese cooking it is an absolute must for your store cupboard. You can easily pick is up in any Asian food store.

The sauce is salty, sour and sweet and mixed through the noodles it is absolutely heavenly. It’s a perfect meal to take to work as it is easily transportable and can be prepared the morning or night before and then stored in a fridge until lunch. Remember to take it out of the fridge around 30 minutes before eating so that it has reached room temperature.

What recipes do you tend to gravitate towards in heatwaves? Shall your thoughts in the comments below.

Cold Spiced Soba and Cucumber Noodles

When it's hot and you want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen and eat something cooling, quick and delicious

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Servings: 2

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 85 g soba noodles
• 1/2 cucumber, made into noodles or thinly sliced use a spiralizer if you have one. Keep the skin on or remove, your choice
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced at an angle
• 1 dried chillies, halved
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tbsp chinkiang black rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp chilli oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp black sesame seeds
• 1 tsp salt, optional

Method

 

1. Place the soba noodles in boiling water and boil for 5 minutes or according to the packet. Drain and run under cold water so they become completely cold. Place to one side.
2. Mix the chinkiang black rice vinegar, light soy sauce chilli and sesame oils, grated garlic, sugar and crunchy peanut butter iin a bowl and stir to form a dressing. Taste and add salt if required.
3. Prepare the cucumber noodles or chop the cucumber into thick sticks
4. Heat a small pan and when it its hot add the dried chilli and allow to darken slightly in colour. I tend to keep the seeds in but remove if you want less heat.
5. Add 1/2 tsp of chilli oil and the spring onions for a minute and then take off the heat.
6. In a mixing bowl, add the cold soba noodles, the cucumber noodles, the dressing and the dried chilli and spring onions. Gently fold in together and place in two bowls. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds on top.