Soba Noodle & Five-Spice Pork Salad
By: My Cooking Hut
Published: Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 12:34pm

Ingredients




150g – 200g Pork tenderloin (about 1/2 pound)
Oil, enough for pan-frying
200g Soba noodles (about 6-8 ounces dried)
100g snow or snap peas (about 1 cup)
1 Carrot, cut into thin rounds
Sesame seeds (black & white), for garnish
Spring onions, finely chopped, for garnish
Marinade:
1/2 tablespoon Oyster sauce
1/2 tablespoon Five-spice powder
1/2 tablespoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Soya sauce
1 tablespoon Sugar
White pepper, a dash
3 Garlic cloves (crushed)
1-2 centimeter piece of fresh Ginger (crushed) (about 1/2 - 1 inch)
1 Red chili (crushed)
Sesame Dressing:
3 -4 tablespoons Sesame oil
2 tablespoons Soya sauce
White pepper, a dash

Preparation

1 Cut the pork tenderloin into 2-3 cm thick (about 3/4 inch). Put oyster sauce, five-spice powder, sesame oil, soya sauce, sugar, white pepper, garlic, ginger, and red chili in a bowl and mix with pork. Marinate for 1-2 hours or more. 2 Trim the snow peas and cut the carrot into thin rounds. Blanch them, refresh in cold water, and set aside. 3 Boil a pot of water. Cook the soba noodles according to the packet. Once cooked, drain, and refresh in cold water. 4 Heat a pan, drizzle with some oil. Pan fry the marinated sliced pork for about 15 – 20 minutes or until each side is golden brown or caramalised. 5 In a bowl, mix soba noodle, the snap peas, and carrots. Drizzle some sesame dressings and mix. Then, top a few pieces of five-spice pork to serve. Garnish with sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onions. 6 Alternatively, you can make a simple teriyaki sauce – (1 tbsp sake, 4 tbsp soya sauce, 4-5 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp sugar) and drizzle over the salad.

About


Soba is Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour. There are 2 ways of serving soba, it’s either chilled with dipping sauce, or in dashi broth as noodle soup. I think I particularly like cold shoba that is served with dipping sauce known as soba tsuyu on the side. Tsuyu is made of a mixture of dashi, sweetened soya sauce and mirin. I made soba noodle salad & five-spice pork salad for my lunchbox. I never find making lunch for the next day is a big responsibility. Unless, I am dead tired and don’t feel like I want to do anything. If not, it just makes sense for me to prepare easy and healthy food for lunch. I once made bulgur wheat salad, which is a great lunchbox idea! Time is bad now – people are careful in their spending. Every now and then I see restaurants put up their special ‘credit crunch’ lunch menu that costs £10 included drinks. But, I have yet seen some quick eateries – those that people go on a daily basis and grab their lunches! It does make me wonder how much less I spend on lunch if I make them at home. After some careful calculations, it really is cheaper to bring food from home. Ok, for soba noodle & five-spice pork salad, I spent less than £6 ($9, €7) on the main ingredients! I don’t know about you but I can’t survive on sandwiches and crisps on a daily basis – that’s what most people at work for lunch. It’s probably I love food and cooking. But, I just think that it’s important to eat well. Don’t give anymore excuses to go to the kitchen (for e.g. my favourite program is on the telly tonight; too lazy; no time; …etc), try this out for your first or next lunchbox!