Summer Soba

Cold Soba (Buckwheat noodles) are a traditional Japanese summer dish. I replaced the traditional soy-and-vinegar dipping sauce with a sesame sauce I tried last year in Singapore though, and added a bunch of fresh vegetables to be dipped alongside the noodles.

For the sauce I used Tahini, which is basically just ground sesame seeds, as a base. It’s not technically Japanese but it makes working with the sauce a lot easier.

Sesame dipping sauce
2-3tsp Tahini
½tsp soy sauce
½tsp rice wine vinegar
½-1tsp grated ginger (I love ginger so I added a lot – it’s not necessary though)
2Tsp. water (I used the water from boiling the soba for flavour)
Optional: Some ground chili or Szechuan pepper.
Mix ingredients thoroughly, serve chilled.

Serve with soba, chopped spring onions, and whatever other veggies you like. I had tofu, sliced radishes, sliced sugar snaps and some wakame salad on the side. Yum!

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Spring tarte with May herbs

It’s been too long since I posted a pie recipe, I feel. Let me remedy that.

This pie is a recipe that I adapted from the medieval recipe for Torta of Herbs in the Month of May, and I think that it works just as well as a savoury entree or main dish as for a sweet dessert. Personally, I prefer the savoury version, substitute my own favourite herbs and reduce the sugar in it, so here’s my personal recipe:

Spring tarte

For the pie shell: 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of rolled oats, 150g (salted) butter, a dash of water.
Makes a standard pie shell, but the oats give the whole thing an interesting bite! If the dough doesn’t want to come together, add a bit more flour or reduce the amount of oats.

For the filling:
2-3 eggs (depending on size)
2Tsp. thick Turkish yoghurt
ca. 75g yellow cheese (Gouda works well)
1 big handful of fresh herbs of your choice, e.g.:
– Basil
– Mint
– Oregano
– Parsley
1tsp. honey.
Grind the cheese in the blender first, then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until the herbs are chopped fine. Pour out into your pre-baked pie crust and bake at 200C for ca. 20 minutes (or until done).
For a sweet variant add grated ginger and more honey/sugar, and perhaps replace the yoghurt and yellow cheese with some sort of fresh cheese or cream cheese.
Enjoy!

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Bento #358

A simple bento with Korean mixed grains (different types of rice and barley, and millet) decorated with a cherry tomato, chili cheese tops from the freezer, sliced sugar snap peas, spring onion, radishes, oregano sprigs and olives on a large basil leaf.

The 15-grain mix I got from a Korean store is expensive but delicious! I do think it is better fresh though – quite a bit of the delicious nutty flavour got lost when I rewarmed the bento.

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