Peanut Soba Noodle Salad Recipe

Still on 4th of July weekend, a little late I know. My mom came over to dye her hair so I cooked her lunch - seared ahi tuna and peanut soba noodles. We had an amazing peanut soba noodle salad in Vegas at Gordon Ramsey's BurgR this past May and I wanted to replicate it for her. I found a recipe by Guy Fieri who seems to always have Asian-inspired recipes. Guy is one of my favorite Food Network stars - I was rooting for him when he was on the first season of The Next Food Network Star. He's so down to earth and entertaining, especially on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I watch that show too much and then I get hungry :(.

Guy's recipe called for ingredients that looked like it would taste like the soba noodle salad from BurgR and I changed it up just a little to reduce the grease factor. I made a lot of tuna for my mom - it was probably a good 10 - 12 oz, only because it was going to be leftovers and I wasn't going to eat it; she took some of it to go. This time I sprinkled the tuna with sesame seeds before searing - we love sesame, especially black sesame in desserts.

The noodle salad was perfect! I used regular dark soba noodles instead since that's what I had on hand. The texture was spot-on with what I was looking for - a little mushy (in a good way), nice crunch factor from the carrots, very peanut-y, and slightly sweet. Aroma was perfect too with the sesame oil and soy sauce. I think I'll add in some julienned cucumbers next time. The recipe called for chopped roasted peanuts which I didn't have, but it would've been amazing with it! This was reminiscent of the rice noodle and peanut hoisin sauce used in the Vietnamese dish bun nem nuong (rice noodles with pork meatballs).

I'm thinking of maybe serving this dish with chicken satay skewers just like what I had at BurgR for the holidays. We don't really want a turkey this year, so maybe we can do this instead, although I don't think that would go well with my potatoes au gratin dish I love to make for Thanksgiving. Maybe for the winter holidays! Anyway, here's the modified recipe. Enjoy!

Peanut Soba Noodle Salad Recipe (adapted from Guy Fieri on Food Network)
Servings: 2

• 4 oz soba noodles
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, plus 1 - 2 tsp
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy would work nicely here)
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1.5 tsp chili garlic sauce or sriracha
• 1/3 cup julienned carrots
• 1/4 cup sliced scallions
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Cook the soba noodles according to package instructions. Reserve 1 tbsp of the cooking liquid to toss into the dressing later and drain the noodles. Drizzle 1 - 2 tsp sesame oil into the soba noodles and toss to prevent sticking. Whisk together the remaining 1 tbsp sesame oil, garlic, ginger, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce/sriracha, and reserved cooking liquid.

Add the carrots and scallions to the noodles and toss. Drizzle the peanut dressing over the noodle mixture and add 1 tsp of sesame seeds and toss until well combined. Sprinkle remaining 1 tsp sesame seeds on top and serve cold or warm. 

I like to eat the noodle salad cold, but you can serve it warm as well.

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