California Soba Salad Bento

Today's my Chinese birthday! My mum always insists we eat some noodles on our birthday (esp the Chinese birthday, as noodles represent long life). I've been eating noodles constantly for the last few days, but I sort of felt obliged to eat more noodles...so, today's very yellow-green bento contains a soba salad which I call California Soba Salad because it has avocado, cucumber and crab sticks mixed with the soba (ingredients often put into California rolls). I must confess I have a weakness for California rolls even though they are not very authentic (Japanese-wise) and crabsticks (even though they are a poor substitute for real crab).

The second tier contains edamame, blueberries and chopped kiwifruit. The little rabbit container has extra tsuyu (soba dipping sauce) for the soba, and there's some shredded nori (seaweed) in a little packet under the lid to shake over the noodles just before eating. Continue reading for the California Soba Salad recipe...

This soba salad is really easy to make, it's basically - just chop everything and mix it together...I won't include actual quantities, because you can really make as much of or as little of it as you wish, according to how many people you are preparing it for.

California Soba Salad

soba or cha soba (green tea soba) - dried soba from a packet is fine.
cucumber, chopped into small cubes
avocado, thinly sliced
crab sticks, sliced
soba dipping sauce (I use Yamasa brand)
light olive oil/sesame oil
shredded nori seaweed (optional)

1. Boil water in a saucepan. When the water is boiling, add the soba noodles and stir.
   
2. When the noodles are cooked (they should be cooked through but still firm), drain and wash well under cold water until the liquid runs clear (ie. to remove the starch). Add a few drops of light olive oil/sesame oil into the noodles and mix well. Set aside.
   
3. Chop and slice the cucumber, avocado and crab sticks, then add them to the soba.
   
4. Add some tsuyu and gently mix together.
   
5. Sprinkle some nori seaweed on top just before eating (optional).
   

Note: the oil will keep the soba noodles from clumping and sticking together.

Tip: If packing the soba into a bento box, pack some additional soba sauce in a little container. Pour the soba sauce over the soba just before eating to help loosen up the noodles further.

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