Soba Noodle & Five-Spice Pork Salad

Soba (??) is Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour. There are 2 ways of serving soba, it’s either chilled with dipping sauce, or in dashi broth as noodle soup. I think I particularly like cold shoba that is served with dipping sauce known as soba tsuyu on the side. Tsuyu is made of a mixture of dashi, sweetened soya sauce and mirin.

I made soba noodle salad & five-spice pork salad for my lunchbox. I never find making lunch for the next day is a big responsibility. Unless, I am dead tired and don’t feel like I want to do anything. If not, it just makes sense for me to prepare easy and healthy food for lunch. I once made bulgur wheat salad, which is a great lunchbox idea!

Time is bad now - people are careful in their spending. Every now and then I see restaurants put up their special ‘credit crunch’ lunch menu that costs £10 included drinks. But, I have yet seen some quick eateries - those that people go on a daily basis and grab their lunches! It does make me wonder how much less I spend on lunch if I make them at home. After some careful calculations, it really is cheaper to bring food from home. Ok, for soba noodle & five-spice pork salad, I spent less than £6 ($9, ?7) on the main ingredients!

I don’t know about you but I can’t survive on sandwiches and crisps on a daily basis - that’s what most people at work for lunch. It’s probably I love food and cooking. But, I just think that it’s important to eat well.  Don’t give anymore excuses to go to the kitchen (for e.g. my favourite program is on the telly tonight; too lazy; no time; …etc), try this out for your first or next lunchbox!

Recipe: Soba Noodle & Five-Spice Pork Salad

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin, 150g - 200g 

Soba noodle, 200g 

Mange Tout, 100g

Carrot, 1

Sesame seeds (black & white), some

Spring onions, some

Oil, enough for pan-frying

Marinate:

Oyster sauce, 0.5 tbsp

Five-spice powder, 0.5 tbsp

Sesame oil, 0.5 tbsp

Soya sauce, 1 tbsp

Sugar, 1 tbsp

White pepper, a dash

Garlic cloves (crushed), 3

Ginger (crushed), 1-2 cm

Red chili (crushed), 1

Sesame Dressings:

Sesame oil, 3 -4 tbsp 

Soya sauce, 2 tbsp 

White pepper, a dash

Method:

1. Cut the pork tenderloin into 2-3cm thick. Put oyster sauce, five-spice powder, sesame oil, soya sauce, sugar, white pepper, garlic, ginger, and red chili in a bowl and mix with pork. Marinate for 1-2 hours or more.

2. Trim the mange tout and cut the carrot. Blanch them, refresh in cold water and set aside.

3. Boil a pot of water. Cook soba noodle according to the packet. Once cooked, refresh in cold water.

4. Heat a pan, drizzle with some oil. Pan fry the marinated sliced pork for about 15 - 20 minutes or until each side is golden brown or caramalised.

5. In a bowl, mix soba noodle, mange tout, and carrots. Drizzle some sesame dressings and mix. Then, top a few pieces of five-spice pork to serve. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and spring onions.

6. Alternatively, you can make a simple teriyaki sauce - (1 tbsp sake, 4 tbsp soya sauce, 4-5 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp sugar) and drizzle over the salad.

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