This tasty vegetarian dinner as a take on a soba salad from Yotam Ottolenghi. Soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles, and they are super versatile. They can be served hot or cold, and in this dish they are cold. This is a super light dish, perfect for a warm day.
I used tofu in this because we were eating as a main course, but you can serve with just the eggplant as a side dish or party salad. Tons of fresh herbs are key to this dish. This isn’t one where you can sub dried herbs because so much of the flavor comes from them. I used cilantro, basil and scallions.
The dressing here is very similar to the Vietnamese Nuoc Cham sauce. It is a tart/sweet dressing made with vinegar, lime juice, sugar, garlic, fish sauce and red chilis. It is super delicious and goes SO well with noodles.
Soba Noodles with Eggplant, Herbs and Tofu
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Thai bird chiles or 1 other red chili pepper finely diced
For the noodles:
- 4 portions soba noodles cooked and drained and rinsed under cold water until cooled. Mix with a little sesame oil to keep from sticking to each other.
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 block firm tofu cut into small squares
- 4 tbsp oil divided
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 cups fresh chopped herbs I used cilantro, basil and scallion
Instructions
For the dressing:
- Combine the ingredients and mix well and let sit for a bit until the sugar dissolves, then stir well again. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
For the noodles:
- Cook the noodles according to package, then drain and rinse under cold water. Mix with a little sesame oil to keep from sticking.
- Cut the eggplant into a small dice and season lightly with salt. Heat 2 tbsp oil in skillet over medium high and add the eggplant. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly browned on all sides. Set aside. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp oil in the skillet and add the tofu. Toss the tofu occasionally and allow it to also lightly brown. When it is browned, drizzle the soy sauce and sesame oil over it and toss.
- Place portions of the noodles in bowls. Top with some eggplant and fried tofu and then all the herbs and spoon the dressing over. There should be a fair amount of dressing because it is seasoning all the noodles. Serve with extra dressing on the side and some Sriracha.