Soba noodles with tofu and vegetables

When it's hot outside, the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven. The only cooking required for soba noodles with tofu and vegetables is to boil a pot of water.

The vegetables for this dish include thinly sliced napa cabbage, shredded carrot and bean sprouts.
A soy and sesame based dressing is whisked together to go over the noodles, vegetables and cubed tofu.

After the noodles, vegetables and tofu are thoroughly coated in the dressing, some chopped cilantro adds a finishing touch.

This dish is good warm, at room temperature or cold. I loved the combination of flavors, and especially appreciated the fact that it didn't heat up the kitchen.

Soba noodles with chicken and vegetables

I pulled this recipe out of one of my cookbooks because I thought it looked like an interesting way to serve chicken. I had every intention of (mostly) following the recipe, but my plans changed. That day, my mom brought me a large container of snow pea shoots and some oyster mushrooms. At that point, it didn’t make any sense for me to go out and buy the vegetables specified in the recipe, so I used the pea shoots and oyster mushrooms instead.

The vegetables are cooked with chicken and tossed with soba noodles. A soy and sake based sauce completes the dish. I don’t cook with soba noodles that often, but I should; they cook quickly and have a great texture.

Although I strayed from the recipe, I think the original combination of broccoli, button mushrooms and red peppers would also be great in this dish.