A couple of weeks ago I was at a friends BBQ where I was asked to bring a "spicy" side, from a host who has a somewhat unhealthy addiction to all things Asian food. All things Asian food. I did a quick Google search and this Food Network recipe appeared, simple enough. It was paired with Omaha steaks our other host decided to grill up (they're a strange pair), and worked well with some roasted vegetable. I decided to make it again at home but this time with shrimp as the protein and a few other tweaks to the noodles, mainly a little more spice.
The dish is good as a side or a meal (I made a batch for lunches this week), depending on your tolerance to spice you can adjust the amount of serrano peppers you include, seeds or not - but I've found the combination below is a good balance of the dressing and bite of the pepper.
Recipe
- 2 7 ounce packs of green tea soba noodles (I went with Hakubaku)
- 1 bunch scallions, chopped
- 1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- 2 serrano peppers, thinly sliced (seeds optional)
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 4 tbsp sesame oil
- 4 tbsp chili oil
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
- salt to taste
- 12 ounces shrimp, peeled and deveined without the tail
- EVOO
Heat the soy sauce to near boil and add the sugar, continue to heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the stove and allow to cool. Whisk in the remaining wet ingredients. Set aside. Meanwhile wash and prepare the produce, thinly slice the serrano peppers, chop the scallions reserving a handful of the green ends for garnish, roughly chop the cilantro also reserving a handful for garnish. Prepare an ice bath for the noodles. In a large pot boil enough water for the noodles, boil for three minutes, drain and submerge in the ice water. Remove noodles, drain and rinse and place in a large bowl. To the noodles toss the dressing coating all the noodles, toss in the scallions, serrano peppers and the cilantro.
Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy pot with EVOO, cook the shrimp for about 3-4 minutes each side. Allow to cool and roughly chop.
Top the noodle salad with the shrimp, serve and enjoy.