Soba noodles, tofu and veggies cooked in a potée fashion
Fusion cuisine with Japanese soba noodles and French vegetables potée. Does it work? Is it comforting? Yes, and yes!
Serves: 2 to 3 cold bodies
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 2 x 30 minutes (the first time to cook, the second to re-heat before serving)
Although Spring has come, Winter seems to have a last say these days. Temperature dropped around 0°C, and it snowed on multiple European countries last week. These are perfect conditions to enjoy soba noodles, or a potée, or both as this recipe suggests!
Soba are Japanese noodles. Compared to ramen and udon, soba noodles are made from buckwheat instead of wheat. This difference has an importance in term of nutrition, as buckwheat flour contains all nine essential amino acids — wheat flour doesn’t. Buckwheat doesn’t contain gluten, which is a plus for people suffering from gluten-related disorders. Beware, however, that buckwheat is on a list of new, suspected allergens.
Potée is a French traditional dish where ingredients (often meat and vegetables) are cooked at low temperature, for hours. An ode to slow food. Although the term comes from the pot used to cook, nowadays we also use steel-based or enameled cast-iron cookware. Potée remembers me the smell of cabbage and potatoes slowly cooking on Sunday when I was a child. As a grown up, it’s still comfort food I enjoy, as I find it fancier than soups (personal opinion, no offense). I’ll share a potée recipe when Fall or Winter returns.
The present recipe may remind you of a Japanese curry, and you can definitely swap the soy and teriyaki sauces for a karē preparation. The kudzu will optionally help thicken the sauce. Unfortunately, in my case it was a bit old and it didn't work as well as I expected.
About kudzu
Kudzu, also called Japanese arrowroot, is a vine native of East Asia. It was introduced to Japan to build baskets, fishnets, and clothes from its fiber. The plant roots contain starch, which can substitute to cornstarch to thicken sauces, which is what is our interest in this recipe. Kudzu has also been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. I won’t venture listing here benefits attributed to kudzu, as it would require I cross-check multiple sources to select which ones are fully confirmed. You can browse online for more details on this side.
Ingredients
150 g soba noodles1
400 g firm tofu2
Cabbage ~ 500 g (flat cabbage is a good choice for such recipe - Kabestu / キャベツ in Japanese)
1 thick carrot ~ 250 g
The white part of a leek ~ 80 g (don’t throw the green part to the trash, it can be put to good use; see my tip at the bottom of this recipe)
2 celery branches3
1 red bell pepper
1 big yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
2 spring onions
Oil (I used corn oil; any non-strongly flavored oil will do)
4-6 soup spoons of soy sauce4
Teriyaki sauce5
3 soup spoons of kudzu (optional; I don’t have the conversion ratio of kudzu starch to cornstarch, so I don’t suggest an alternative)
Preparation
Because this is a recipe which cooks slowly, you can prepare ingredients as you go. If you're unsure, or aren't a fast knife handler (safety first!), proceed with preparation steps ahead of heating your wok or pan.
Peel the onion, cut it in two, then slice it from the rounded side to the flat bottom
Peel the garlic, then cut each clove in half and cut again in two
Peel the carrot, cut it in half on the long side, then in 1 cm large sections to obtain half discs
Cut the tofu in mid-sized cubes; in my case, I ended up having 40 cubes out of the entire block
Wash the cabbage, then cut it from the center to the outside, then cut the half rings in the middle
Wash the red bell pepper, open it, deseed it, and chop it into thumb-large pieces
Slice the leek into 1 cm large rings, then wash thoroughly to remove any possible remaining dirt
Wash the celery branches, remove 0.5 to 1 on both ends, then slice them to obtain moon quarters
Wash the spring onions, slice them finely and reserve for later
Cook the soba noodles as instructed on their package; you can undercook them by 1 or 2 minutes, since they’ll join the rest of the ingredients and cook a bit more
Crush the kudzu into a powder, then add 50 mL hot water and 2 soup spoons of teriyaki sauce; mix together until the kudzu entirely dissolves in the liquid
Cooking
This recipe is an ode to the slow movement, as it cooks, well, slowly. Still, you can - and I did - proceed with Preparation steps before you start cooking. I recommend using a non-stick deep-sided pan, or wok. However, since it doesn’t cook on high flame, any cookware with a lid you can close will work.
Heat your wok just below medium flame/power
Add a thin layer of oil at the bottom of the wok
Add a small dash of soy sauce, no more than a soup spoon
Add the onion and the garlic; cover for 5 minutes
Add the carrot and tofu; give a stir and add a generous amount of soy sauce
Increase the heat to medium; cover for 10 minutes
Give a stir, add the cabbage and the bell pepper on top; don't stir afterward, and cover for 10 minutes
Give a stir, add the celery and leek on top
Add another generous dash of soy sauce (3-5 soup spoons approximately), plus 2 additional soup spoons of oil
If you've opted for it, add the kudzu-thickened teriyaki sauce: otherwise, just add several dashes of teriyaki sauce (3 to 4 soup spoons should be the maximum, to avoid the sugar takes over other flavors)
Don't stir afterward; slightly increase the heat, and cover for 5 minutes
Turn off the heat, add the cooked soba noodles, and be delicate incorporating them into the veggies
Cover, leave to cool, then refrigerate overnight
An hour before serving, remove from the fridge
Half an hour before serving, put on low flame/power and leave covered for 30 minutes
Serve with the spring onions as topping
By not serving this dish immediately, and re-heating it the next day(s), the flavors will mingle. It can be frozen, and will be great after you return it to room temperature, then re-heat it. From my experience, only the celery texture will slightly change after being frozen; it will be more squishy, however it will still be good. Since this is a perfect comfort food for Fall and Winter times, you can prepare ahead of time, check the weather forecast, and enjoy it on cold evenings.
Enjoy!
If you’ve tried the recipe, and would like to comment - whether you loved it, or hated it - please do so. I’m welcoming ideas, even if these are non-vegan recipes I’ll have the challenge to “veganize”.
Here’s a tip before you go
A lot of recipes ask for the white part of a leek. The green, leafy part deserves some love, too! I'm reluctant to throw edibles to the garbage, so I try to find alternate use for what I haven't cooked. Here's a suggestion with a Japanese theme.
Ingredients:
Green leaves of a leek
Soy sauce
Oil
Preparation:
Remove parts of the leek which are damaged, usually at their end
Slice the leek leaves very thin, to obtain small V-shaped green pieces
Wash thoroughly to remove any remaining dirt
Put in a recipient, add a bit of oil (no more than a soup spoon) and soy sauce (to your taste)
If you're into stronger flavors, you can add chili pepper, sesame seeds, ginger root cut into matchsticks — up to you
Seal the box, shake to mix everything together, refrigerate and let it marinate between 2 and 24 hours
You can now use this preparation in a salad, as a salad by itself, as topping on rice, or in a soup. You can cook them lightly in a wok, and combine with other ingredients for sauté noodles. I once cooked them heavily in a wok, and obtained something which would replace seaweed in case I had none.
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Be cautious: soba noodles are made of buckwheat, which is a suspected allergen
Be cautious: tofu is made of soy, which is a known allergen
Be cautious: celery is a known allergen
Be cautious: soy sauce is made of soy and wheat, which are known allergens
Be cautious: teriyaki sauce contains soy sauce, which is made of soy and wheat; both are known allergens
Ok I've gotta try this!!