Detox Noodles

I've been waiting for Jaimie to post her quirky and all together delightful description of our picnic before I post my picnic recipies (beleive me, they're good ones)... but this seems to be taking a while, and I can't just leave you with nothing. For all I know, we have a creepy fan out there (you know, like Mel on Flight of the Conchords) who only eats what and when I post, and I can't just let the poor kid starve. Plus, I know, I promised weekly noodles, and have done little to deliver (and I'm sure you're all gonna hold me to that, legionnaires of fans).

This is a recipie I made up yesterday out of what was lying around. It's very fresh, very slurpy whilst similtaneously crunchy, and very yummy and utterly healthy...perfect detox food really. So I made it as a dedication to those friends of mine I knew would be in need of detox yesterday from the evils and tempations of the week, or more specifically, Saturday night (see bellow). I, however, was in need of detox from nothing but my own boredom, but liked to imagine it was from my wild, youthfull week of illicit drug use, casual sex, purgatory and bathing in a mixture of KFC, vodka and coke. (Yes, I like to imagine that I live in Vice).



Soba Noodle Detox Salad
Serves 4
I just used whatever appropriate fresh ingredients I had in the fridge for this, you could also add all kinds of exotic things like cubed silken tofu...and other stuff like that. I guess this is semi inspired by a Bim Bim Bab Noodle dish I like to eat at Izumi.

Ingredients
300g Soba Noodles
1 lebanese cucumber, sliced into thin strips
1 red capsicum, sliced into thin strips
2 handfulls beansprouts
coriander, for garnish
toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
finely sliced dried seaweed, for garnish (optional)
finely sliced fresh chilli, for garnish

Dressing
1/3 cup Japanese soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
juice of one lime
2 tablespoons mirin (Japanese vinegar thing)

Method
1. Boil the noodles in a pot of boiling water till al dente. This only takes around 2 minutes, or possibly even less. So stay on your toes!
2. Rince noodles in cold water until cooled completely.
3. Mix together all dressing ingredients.
4. Place noodles in large noodle bowls, add capsicum, cucumber and beansprouts, pour over dressing and stir gently to combine.
5. top with sesame seeds, chilli, coriander and seaweed

NB. I didn't have sesame seeds (yes, the plight of modern life), so used cashews instead. They didn't really work so well.
To toast sesamee seeds, simply dry fry them in a small frypan over medium heat untill they go golden brown.