This recipe is inspired by tantanmen ramen – a Japanese take on Sichuan dan dan noodles, with a broth made from soya milk and sesame – but it is by no means authentic. Typically this would have a proper stock as the base and be topped with minced (ground) pork, but I got attached to the idea of a ramen that could be knocked up quickly and that remained vegetarian/vegan. I also wanted to use udon noodles (again, untraditional), because I love their texture: big, fat, slippery, chewy – is there anything more satisfying?
Creamy buckwheat soba noodle salad using Clearspring 100% Buckwheat Soba noodles. This is a really light noodle salad mixed with raw sliced vegetables and a creamy tahini dressing. We used rainbow carrots to bring out different colours to the salad. If you are not going to eat it straight away, keep the sauce in a separate container and dress it before serving.
This creamy whole tahini sauce is great with raw, grilled or baked vegetables. We used the whole tahini sesame paste as it gives a more rich nutty flavour to the sauce.
This is an easy dressing which you can pour over raw or cooked vegetables. The combination of the creamy white tahini paste, fresh lemon juice with the umami boost of the white miso brings the flavour together. You can play with the consistency by adding water for a drizzle or a thick sauce. You can enjoy it with a raw salad or on grilled little gems lettuce as a side with your bbq or grilled vegetables.
This recipe can be adapted to any raw or cooked vegetables. It is so easy to make the vegetable tasty. Play around with the amount of Tamari or Tahini you would like when dressing.
Shira-ae is a tofu-based dish, usually with some boiled green vegetables and sea vegetables, either hijiki or arame. This recipe explains how to cook the hijiki and to mix it with the shira-ae sauce. Hijiki can sometimes look a bit scary as its strands of black, so mixing it with this creamy tofu sauce makes it easier for someone new to adding sea vegetables to your meals. You can swap the edamame beans with blanched or fresh spinach or just have it plain.