Mom has been away on vacation, so in her absence, I’ve been taking a page out of her book and experimenting with some dishes I’ve always wanted to reverse engineer. In this case, we’re tackling Soba Noodle Salad, a Japanese or Asian Fusion dish, depending on who you ask.

I tried this a few ways, using a couple different recipes as inspiration, but in the end, I came up with my own amalgamated creation:

Ingredients (4 servings)

• 2 bunches of soba/buckwheat noodles
• 1 stalk of green onions, minced
• 1 shredded carrot
• 2 shredded mini-cucumbers
• 2 radishes
• 2 tbsp hot chili oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbspn crunchy peanut butter, mixed with 2 tbsp peanut oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Two bunches of soba noodles.

Shredded carrot, shredded cucumber, minced green onion and sliced radish.

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Cook soba noodles according to instructions (usually 4-6 minutes), then remove from heat, run under cold water and toss with peanut oil to prevent sticking.
2. [Optional] I am not the biggest fan of raw onions, so while the noodles were cooking, I pan fried the green onions until they were browned and crispy
3. Prepare sauce by mixing peanut butter with peanut oil, then mixing in hot chili oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, green onions, salt and pepper.
4. Toss noodles in the sauce, then mix in shredded carrot and cucumbers.
5. Garnish with thinly sliced radish.