Hiyashi Chuka (Cold Ramen)

As I mentioned in my last post, I still have a couple of summer recipes up my sleeve which I'd love to share with you, and although the majority are salad recipes, summer food doesn't only have to be salad!

One of my favourite ways to cool down in summer is with cold noodles, with Naengmyeon, or Korean cold noodles, being my go-to in summer. I always have mine served with plenty of ice, so it's perfect for those 40+ degree days.

But if cold noodles in soup is a little too plain and boring for you, there's always Hiyashi Chuka, the Japanese version of cold ramen. It's halfway between a salad and a noodle soup, with the base of noodles topped with a colourful array of (mostly) veggies, served with a light (or in my case, very generous) serve of soy-based dressing.

Pretty much as close to eating a rainbow as you can get!

You can top the noodles with pretty much anything you've got, as long as you cut them up into matchstick shapes and arrange them in a nice pattern. I've drawn inspiration for my Hiyashi chuka from Yosuko Saikan's version, which is particularly tall to imitate the shape of Mount Fuji.

This recipe uses konjac/shirataki noodles, but if you can't find them you can substitute normal noodles instead. They are super low calorie noodles which are also quite high in fibre, making this quite a light meal. You can find Shirataki noodles in most Asian supermarkets (in the Japanese section).

Hiyashi Chuka (Cold Ramen) Recipe
Recipe from Cooking with Dog
Serves 2

- Sauce -
3 tbsp Soy Sauce
4 tbsp Vinegar
2 tbsp Sugar
70ml Water (2.4 fl oz)
½ tsp Ginger Root, grated
1 tsp Sesame Oil
Karashi Hot Mustard to taste

Mix all sauce ingredients together.

- Hiyashi Chuka - 

100g Bean Sprouts (3.5 oz)
2 packages of Shirataki (konjac) Noodles (360g/12.7 oz)
100g Char Siu - Chinese-flavored Barbecued Pork or substitute: Ham (3.5 oz)
Kinshi Tamago, shredded friede egg sheet
½ Tomato
½ Cucumber
Salt
Sesame Oil

1. Stir fry bean sprouts and sesame oil in a small fry pan until lightly cooked, ~2 min.
2. Rinse the shirataki noodles and cut into shorter pieces. Blanch the noodles in boiling water for 30 seconds. Heat briefly in a pot/pan, turn off heat and then mix with a small amount of sauce. Chill in fridge.
3. Once the noodles have chilled, arrange the shredded char siu/ham, tomato, cucumber and egg on top of the noodles. Pour extra sauce over the Hiyashi Chuka to taste.