Ingredients
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About half a head of lettuce, shredded
1-2 cucumber, peeled in stripes, seeded, and thinly sliced 1-2 tomatoes, thinly sliced OR ½ pint of grape of cherry tomatoes, halved Char siu (recommended), ham, thinly sliced OR leftover roasted chicken, thinly sliced Additional Optional Mix-Ins Scrambled eggs, thinly sliced Kamaboko (Japanese fish cake), thinly sliced 3 individual bundles of somen, cooked and cooled |
Dressing
⅓ cup white sugar ⅓ cup American vinegar ⅓ cup shoyu About 1T sesame oil Toasted white sesame seeds Just enough canola to hold it together |
What To Do
Prep vegetables, and meat, plus eggs and kamaboko if you are using them. Set aside in separate piles.
Cook somen according to directions. It cooks much faster than spaghetti, 3-5 minutes at most. Drain and cool with cold water. Add a bit of sesame oil and toss to minimize the noodles sticking together. Set aside in the colander.
Whisk all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl or bottle, except the canola oil, and mix well. Slowly add canola oil just until the dressing holds together. I am not a big oil/dressing person, so I use maybe 1/8 of a cup of canola oil.
To assemble, take a handful of somen and swirl it on the bottom of your salad bowl. If the somen is sticky, run it under cold water, and it will un-stick. Add lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, meat, eggs, and kamaboko on top of the somen. Spoon dressing over salad, and serve cold or at room temperature.
Cook somen according to directions. It cooks much faster than spaghetti, 3-5 minutes at most. Drain and cool with cold water. Add a bit of sesame oil and toss to minimize the noodles sticking together. Set aside in the colander.
Whisk all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl or bottle, except the canola oil, and mix well. Slowly add canola oil just until the dressing holds together. I am not a big oil/dressing person, so I use maybe 1/8 of a cup of canola oil.
To assemble, take a handful of somen and swirl it on the bottom of your salad bowl. If the somen is sticky, run it under cold water, and it will un-stick. Add lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, meat, eggs, and kamaboko on top of the somen. Spoon dressing over salad, and serve cold or at room temperature.
Notes
- For potluck assembly, put the lettuce in the bottom of the serving dish. This prevents the somen from sticking to the bottom of your dish. Sprinkle the vegetables and meats over the top, and set dressing aside for people to add for themselves.
- Somen is packaged in bundles of three (Hakubaku) or five (Tomoshiraga). Three bundles are good for a family of 4 and five bundles are good for a potluck.
- Somen also comes in a red ume variety if you want to mix and match for aesthetic purposes.
