I’d finalized the Table of Contents for my new food book. I was starving. I wanted avocado on a bit of rye, essene bread with miso and some fresh thyme. Fast, easy, no sweat. Except I was out of essene bread. My shoulders slumped forward as I almost submitted to the idea of avocado on a cracker. Then, the thought of avocado and buckwheat noodles brought a smile to my face.
Within 10 minutes, I sat down to an amazing, improvised meal of buckwheat noodles with steamed carrot and corn, fresh avocado and nori; all dressed in a ginger, thyme, black sesame oil and soy sauce. Everything was organic except for the buckwheat noodles, soy sauce and black sesame oil.
Try this recipe out and let me know if it worked for you so I can include it in my new book: ‘Food the way I like it: How to eat for pleasure and vitality.’ Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I hope you get as much joy from it as I did.
It was only halfway through the meal that I thought to take a photo of it. Darn. I was hungry, alright? No one likes pictures of half-eaten meals.
To make it up to you, here’s the recipe for 1:
Buckwheat noodles with vegetables, avocado and nori, in a dressing of ginger, thyme, black sesame oil and soy sauce
Ingredients:
- buckwheat noodles –amount: when bunched together, they form a circle of 1 cm in diameter at the top of the bunch. (more if you’re ravenous)
- ½ large carrot
- ½ corn cob
- ½ large avocado
- Nori pieces (or sheets cut or ripped to pieces) – amount: to your liking
- Dressing: soy sauce, ginger, thyme, (black) sesame oil, optional: squeeze of lemon
Cooking implements that saved me time: grater, bamboo steamer (with a lid) that fits well on top of your cooking pot, a large serving bowl.
Steps:
- Boil 400 ml water in an electric kettle to save time
- Whilst waiting for water to boil, shave off 2 fine slices from the body of ginger you have and dice into 1-2mm pieces. Pour a teaspoon of soy sauce (or to your taste) in the large serving bowl. Place ginger in the soy sauce to infuse. Also add one teaspoon of (black) sesame oil.
- When the water’s boiled, place noodles in water – nudging them in gently so that they’re covered in water. Flame on high until the water boils, then lower to a simmer. Give the noodles a stir.
- Chop two, 2 cm lengths from the total length of the corn cob. Place in a bamboo steamer. Place steamer on top of the pot with the simmering noodles and cover with lid.
- Pluck half a teaspoon of thyme leaves from their stalks and also place in dressing mixture of soy sauce and oil.
- Grate half a carrot.
- Check if corn is done. It will take just 2 minutes (which is when you were doing steps 5 and 6 above)
- Remove corn and place aside.
- Keep an eye on the noodles. They will need just 1 or 2 minutes more. Place grated carrot in steamer and cover with lid.
- Cut up your avocado anyway you like. I do wide strips myself.
- Check your noodles by lifting the steamer off the pot and tasting one. If it’s done to your taste (I like mine to be firm but not too chewy), turn the flame off.
- Drain noodles (doesn’t have to be completely dry). Place the steamed carrot and noodles into the serving bowl. Mix in well so that the dressing coats the food. Squeeze lemon into it (to taste). Place avocado chunks/strips and corn cob pieces into bowl. Garnish with nori pieces.
It might seem like a lot of small steps for such a quick meal. That’s because you will be multitasking whilst things are boiling/steaming. It might take you a little more than 10 minutes when you are familiarising yourself with the recipe. The second time around, you will find it much faster and easier.
I had so much joy eating this meal. I'd like to think that the food scientists will be envious. There’s no way they could pack this kind of quality, freshness and flavour into a microwave meal (which would take almost 10 minutes to microwave anyway).
At a glance, I’d say 60% of this meal is comprised of vegies. Pretty good for a desperate, 10 minute effort. I sing the praises of a stocked fridge and pantry!
If you want to “up the vegies” in this meal, and if you had more time than I did today, you could add one or all of:
• finely shredded raw lettuce (for that cool, crisp texture to balance the moorishness of the dressing)
• chopped ripe tomatoes (for added sweetness)
• steamed broccoli (steamed at the same time as the corn)
Have a play with these variations!
Again, please let me know how this recipe works for you, and if you would have done something differently. I really want this recipe to be user-friendly when I include it in my upcoming book: ‘Food the way I like it: How to eat for pleasure and vitality.’
Stay tuned for more food adventures!
