Sesame Noodles

Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger are best known nowadays for their expertise in Latin American cuisine, especially that of Mexico. Their Los Angeles restaurants—Border Grill, and later Ciudad—were among the earliest purveyors of what might be called “haute Mexican” (alto Mexican?) cooking in the United States.

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

Before they began focusing on Latin American cuisine, they ran a tiny LA restaurant called City, where they served dishes inspired by numerous different countries and cultures, including (but not limited to) Thailand, India, Japan, France, and Italy. In 1989, they published a cookbook, City Cuisine, which remains a favorite of mine (it seems to be out of print—amazon says new copies are available, but only “via sellers”).



My copy is stained, the binding is broken, and pages are falling out; this is about as high a tribute as I can give a cookbook.

 

City Cuisine’s recipe for Spicy Cold Soba Noodles is a regular part of my repertoire, and one which usually gets praise when I serve it to people. It’s quite simple and easy to prepare once you’ve got the ingredients in your pantry.

Of course, being me, I have fiddled with the original recipe over the years, and I’ll talk about how I do so in the photos below. The original, as usual, is at the end of the post.

Milliken and Feniger have you start with 1/3 cup of regular soy sauce and reduce it by half, and then add some molasses to it. I suspect that this was meant to substitute for dark soy sauce, which was not easy to come by in 1989. I use 1/6 cup of dark soy and proceed as usual. This is also due to the fact that I rarely have molasses in my pantry.

Although Milliken and Feniger have you whisk the sauce ingredients together, I prefer to use a blender or a food processor (especially if my brown sugar has become rock-solid). Instead of mixing the scallions in with the sauce, I garnish with them at the end, because that's how we do it in the 801. 

 

Put the sauce ingredients in a blender or processor. Or a mixing bowl if you prefer to mix them by hand.



And btw, I used chili paste—sambal oleek, specifically—instead of chili oil. And of course, the chili is to taste; if you don't like spicy stuff, leave it out. You can also use peanut butter instead of tahini, although at that point you have peanut noodles rather than sesame noodles. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the noodles. If soba noodles are unavailable, I substitute whole-wheat vermicelli, as shown here. I also tend to cook them a little longer than I would for Italian dishes—in my experience, Asian noodles tend to be softer than "al dente." But obviously, this is a matter of personal preference.

Being lazy, I usually skip the whole ice water business and just run cold water on to the noodles while they drain in colander, tossing them until they're cool.

 

Pour the sauce on the noodles.

 

Toss to coat thoroughly, and chill. 

 

Garnish with the scallions, and serve it forth. Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a side. 

I've just realized that this makes two vegan posts in a row. Let me reassure my friends that I have not taken ill, nor have I been replaced by a pod person, Invasion-of-the-Body-Snatchers style. 

From City Cuisine, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger:

Spicy Cold Soba Noodles

⅓ cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon molasses

¼ cup sesame oil

¼ cup tahini (peanut butter works also)

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup Chinese chili oil

3 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar

½ bunch scallions, thinly sliced

salt to taste

½ lb. soba (Japanese buckwheat) noodles

Place soy sauce in a pan over high heat and reduce by half. Turn heat to low, add molasses, and warm briefly. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add sesame oil, tahini, brown sugar, chili oil, vinegar, and scallions, and whisk to combine. Season to taste with salt, if desired.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Add noodles, bring back to a boil, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they just begin to soften, about 3 minutes. (Soba noodles can overcook very quickly, so stay nearby.)

Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Drain noodles, plunge in iced water, and drain again. Place in a colander and rinse well under cold running water. Combine noodles and sauce, toss well, and chill.