Asian sesame noodle salad

Get all your ingredients together and get all your chopping out of the way. In a large pot, boil water with a tablespoon of vegetable oil and add your noodles. Chow Mien noodles, even though they are dry, tend to cook much faster that regular noodles. With that said, you want to boil them for only about 4 to 5 minutes because you want them to be al dente, not overcooked and mushy. While noodles are cooking, get a bowl of ice water ready. At the 4 minute mark, check the noodles for doneness. If ready, immediately strain them and then transfer them to the ice water. You may need to add more ice to keep the water cold. Set the bowl aside to allow for complete cooling.

Set a small frying pan on a burner set to high. Once heated, add 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil to the pan and quick saute your shallots and garlic for only 30 seconds. Remove and pour into a large mixing bowl. In the mixing bowl, add all the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT THE SESAME SEEDS, and whisk briskly so that ingredients are well blended. Once noodles are cooled, drain liquid through a strainer and rinse noodles with cold running water. Add noodles to mixing bowl with ingredients and toss well so everything is completely blended. Finally, add the sesame seeds and toss gently. Pour salad into a nice serving platter and sprinkle of few more sesame seeds and serve. There you have it. It's that simple. And it tastes so good, your guests won't believe how quick it was to make.

Serve with a nice Saki, chilled prawns with a dipping sauce of of ginger vinegrette and finish with a green tea sorbet. For the dipping sauce, use 1 part sesame oil, 1 part rice vinegar, 1/2 part water, 1 teaspoon of ginger paste, 1 teaspoon of honey, and whisk until well blended. Enjoy.