Soba noodles? Say what? How’s this stylish? What are they anyway? Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and are much more beneficial to your health than wheat pasta. I even think they are tastier than wheat pasta, but I will let you be the judge. You can find out more information in the eHow article that I found online by clicking here. You can purchase them in most grocery stores near the asian/thai food aisle. I have even seen them in Target. Unfortunately I don’t recall where I got mine from since I have had them in my cupboard for sometime now. I was intimidated/not inspired enough in trying them – but that all changed when I came across the recipe Papaya, Shrimp, and Soba Salad at wholeliving.com and wanted to give them a try.
The recipe is not intimidating at all and making Soba noodles is much easier than pasta. It takes 5 minutes to boil the noodles… that’s it! The rest is just cutting, slicing and dicing. I think if you also add avocados, it will taste even better – however I only thought of this after the fact.
Also, I am missing an ingredient from my photograph. Can you guess what that is?
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Healthy & Stylish Papaya, Shrimp and Soba Salad
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 12 ounces soba noodles (I used Japanese style)
- 2 tsp tamarind paste
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 4 tbsp agave syrup or light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, plus more for garnish
- 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 papaya (about 1 pound), peeled, seeds removed, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
- 7 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- Juice of 1 lime
- salt/pepper
- Lettuce leaves
Directions:
- In a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water, cook soba noodles according to package instructions (I only boiled them for 5 minutes and ran them under cold water to stop the cooking process and get it cool enough for my stylish salad.)
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together tamarind, turmeric, agave, 1/4 cup oil, lime juice, and cayenne. Add drained noodles, cilantro, onion, half the papaya, and all but 3 tablespoons of the peanuts; season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
- In a bowl combine shrimp with salt, turmeric, coriander and lime juice.
- In a large skillet, heat the remaining 4 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until soft for about 1 minute. Add shrimp and cook, tossing occasionally, until shrimp are just cooked through until they are pink.
- To serve, divide noodles and shrimp evenly among four large bowls; top each serving with remaining papaya, peanuts, and cilantro.
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