Happy Wednesday! Currently, we’re en route from Japan where we ate a lot of soba noodles. Of course, we didn’t eat them quite like this – in Japan, soba would never be tossed with vegetables and doused with a bright, creamy, sesame-orange-cashew sauce… but we’re not in Japan any more, so here goes! 🙂 For this recipe, I use the whole head of broccoli, stalk and all. I don’t know why we ever started tossing the stalk – it’s every bit as edible as the florets (find other ideas to use the whole head here and here). To help the stem and florets cook for a similar amount of time, I slice the broccoli stem very thin. I really love how these stem pieces almost look like little stars!
Next, steam the broccoli, the stems, and the scallions until tender but still bright green. You could roast the broccoli here if you prefer, but I chose to steam it because I often crave really simple, clean flavors. Plus, steaming is such an under-rated cooking technique these days! On the other hand, roasting broccoli would give this meal a nuttier, bolder flavor, so the choice is yours and instructions for both are listed below.
Toss it all together: the soba noodles, broccoli, thinly sliced carrot, cashews, and a protein of your choice – I used a locally-made Chicago brand of baked turmeric tofu, which is why mine is yellow. Dollop the noodles with the sauce and serve with extra tamari (or soy sauce) on the side. I also love to make this recipe with roasted spaghetti squash in place of the noodles!
