Matcha Soba Salad with Norimaki Mochi is made with Cold matcha (green tea) soba noodles tossed with fresh crunchy vegetables, a light and flavorful sesame dressing and topped off with a crisp and chewy norimaki mochi is the perfect way to greet spring.
We made this little gem of a Matcha Soba Salad with Norimaki Mochi while foraging through my pantry on Good Friday looking for a meal that was to fill my belly as well as my soul.
When we lived in Japan, one of my favorite to celebrate the arrival of spring and summer was with homemade cold soba noodles with a mentsuyu dipping sauce and usually a side of sizzling hot tempura of vegetables and shrimp. There is nothing better on hot and steamy day in Asia.
Asia's Heat and its close Brother Humidity
Trust me it gets hot in Asia! Japan is not the hottest place in Asia but after the tragic incident of the tsunami incident there is a rule to keep the air conditioners set at very high temperature. When you get lots of people crammed on the trains or in office buildings, it gets steamy hot. They even have relaxed their suits only dress codes to drop the tie and suit coats so that people are not dripping wet while at work. Then there is always someone who has to break the fashion code like this girl here.
Hand fans to wave yourself with are big in Japan and even here in Hong Kong and all around Asia. Heck, I have one in each colour and I also am not afraid to admit that I hover under umbrellas to shelter myself from the sweltering heat while melting and waiting for the bus on the hot and steamy pavement.. After all of that, you crave something cool and refreshing. (Check out out the photo closely to the right. Do you see the "Do not Photo" sign? I was never one for silly rules... after all I still can't read the kanji only the katakana and hiragana so realistically it could say really anything...like don't bring your cameras inside the shop?... LOL)
Not all Soba Noodles are Gluten-Free
There are just some recipes that are magical and I just love the idea of the cool and refreshing soba noodles with the piping hot tempura. However, I am the gluten-free girl now and it is a good thing that soba noodles also known as buckwheat noodles are gluten-free.
Of course, you need to double-check and read the back of the package to make sure that there are no added ingredients. As only the really good soba noodles are 100 percent buckwheat and some of the less expensive soba noodles are made with a combination of wheat and buckwheat flour. Oh and good luck with reading the kangi, katakana and hiragana on the back of the package...let me know how that goes for you..., and to all of my Japanese friends, you do not count!
Soba (そば) means buckwheat in Japanese. Even though buckwheat has the word "wheat" in it is actually not wheat or even a grain at all. Buckwheat is derived from the seeds of a flowering plant. The triangular seeds also known as buckwheat groats, are made into flour and can be used in make soba noodles. So this is all a very good thing if you are going gluten-free.
I had tons of salad fixings in my refrigerator and lots of fresh spinach and tri-colored peppers so I decided I wanted to make a colorful salad with my matcha soba. If you love soba, be sure to try our Soba Noodle Salad with Yuzu Dressing .
However, I did not have any dashi in the house to make a traditional dressing so I created this modified salad dressing that was super delicious. I mixed sesame oil, honey, tamari sauce, grated diakon and I needed something a little tart so I added a little tamarind juice and it was sublime.
As a healthier option instead of deep-fried tempura, I made norimaki mochi. I just skipped the step of adding the sweet sakura glaze for a lovely sweet and savory salad topper. Baked norimaki are served warm out of the oven and are chewy and slightly sweet, savory and a perfect blend of flavors that brings together all my memories of living in Japan.
What is Norimaki Mochi?
Norimaki mochi is made from a special type of pounded rice called mochi. Mochi is made from a kind of rice called Mochigome. Have you ever seen blocks of white mochi sold in the Asian food stores? Mochigome is much stickier compared to the normal shortgrained rice in Japan. Mochigome is steamed and then pounded while it’s hot and this pounding increases viscosity and the soft glutinous mass becomes smooth and elastic and in factories they shape into blocks and let harden. In Japan there are festivals surrounding the event of the old fashion method of pounding the steamed mochigome with a mallet and hammer.
Mochi can be enjoyed baked, grilled or fried but you cannot eat it raw or otherwise you would break your teeth as it is very hard. However, something very magical happens when the mochi blocks are baked, grilled or fried as they become hot, soft and chewy on the inside and on the outside the mochi block becomes slightly toasty and crispy. It is kind of hard to describe, but do you know what happens to a marshmallow when you toast it? Mochi is not as light as a marshmallow but it a happy culinary eating experience. I glaze my mochi blocks with a little soy and brown sugar glaze and when it gets soft and slightly golden remove from oven and wrap in a nori leaf and this dish is called norimaki mochi. Nori means seaweed. Maki means to roll and mochi is pounded rice. I hope you can try this dish sometime soon.
Ingredient exchanges for your Matcha Soba Salad with Norimaki Mochi
You can make your salad with any vegetables you have in your crisper. The sky is the limit. I also topped my Matcha Soba Salad with Norimaki Mochi with sakura toasted sesame seeds but you could also swap out with plain toasted white or black sesame seeds. There are many different kinds of soba noodles.
There are plain soba, sakura flavoured soba or even cha (green tea/matcha) soba like I used. The salad is great all on its own and my boys loved it as a part of their bento boxed lunches for school. Matcha soba salad can be made 24 hours in advance and is a great dish to bring to functions you have going on this spring/summer.
You can find the mochi blocks to make Norimaki in any Asian food market that carries Japanese products. I absolutely love norimaki but it is not essential to make this matcha soba salad. If you are diabetic, then just swap out the honey for a sugar alternative of your choice and swap out more the soba with more of the delicious crunchy vegetables and exchange to norimaki with cut thin slices of nori leaves (dried seaweed).
More Delicious Asian Salads
Vietnamese Shrimp Vermicelli Salad
Layered High Sesame Asian Salad
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Matcha Soba Salad with Norimaki Mochi
Ingredients
- 66 grams soba noodles
(100% buckwheat) (1 section of the noodles of a 200 gram package) We used matcha soba - 1 cup spinach
fresh chopped - ¼ cup Carrot
julienne slices or use a grater - ¼ cup red bell pepper
diced - ¼ cup yellow bell pepper
Sesame Dressing
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoon honey
or maple syrup to keep vegan - ¼ cup soy sauce
or tamari to keep gluten-free - 2 tablespoon daikon radish
grated - ¼ cup tamarind
or to taste (Soak tamarind paste in hot water) - 2 teaspoon sesame seeds garnish - optional
Norimaki
- 3 blocks Kirimochi (切り餅)
- 1 sheet dried nori leaves cut into (2.5 inches x 7.5 inches or 6 cm x 16 cm) or just to fit your kirimochi
- ¼ cup soy sauce
or tamari to keep gluten-free - 2 tablespoon brown sugar or sugar alternative of choice
Instructions
- Boil the soba noodles according to the package instructions... Start out by boiling your water and then drop in the soba noodles. Then drop the temperature down from a boil to a simmer and cook for about 5-7 minutes or until aldente. There is no need to salt the water. Drain the noodles in a strainer in the sink and let the cool water gentle run over your noodles for a minute or two, wash the soba noodles so they from any remaining starch residue and until the noodles are cool..drain well (Reserve some of the pasta water to drink,if you like, as it is full of vitamins and minerals or discard)
- In a large bowl add the cooked and cooled soba noodles, chopped spinach, chopped red and yellow bell peppers, carrots or really any vegetables you fancy and have in your crisper.
- Preheat oven to 190 Celsius or 375 F to make your norimaki.
- Make your Japanese sesame dressing for your Matcha soba salad: Add sesame oil, honey, tamari (soy) sauce, grated diakon and tamarind juice. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. If you want it more salty add more tamari sauce, it you want it more spicy add more diakon radish, if you want it more sour add more tamarind. (You can also use lemon, rice vinegar, limes or yuzu instead of tamarind for the sparkle in the dressing.)
- Add your Japanese sesame dressing to the matcha soba salad and toss lightly. Divide your Matcha soba salad between 3 plates and garnish with sesame seeds.
- Make your norimaki. Make the tamari (soy sauce) glaze: add tamari (soy sauce) to a small pan and add brown sugar and cook over low medium heat until it is a nice and thick glaze about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Place the Kirimochi (切り餅) blocks on a pre-greased baking sheet. Slather the tamari brown sugar glaze on each Kirimochi (切り餅) and bake for about 10 minutes or until firm on the outside and chewy on the inside. Don't cook too long or it will end up in a pool of mochi (completely melted). The goal is you want the edges to be crispy but the inside to be tender. If you do not have an oven, you can also pan fry or grill instead.
- Trim your nori (dried seaweed) into 3 long strips the same width as your mochi. (Alternatively you can buy the thin pre-cut strips of nori). Immediately wrap the warm mochi in nori. Place a delicious hot out of the oven norimaki on each plate of cool matcha soba salads.
- Enjoy.
Culinary Flavors says
I have to check at the local Asian s/m for the soba noodles! We all love this type of food and I think this meal would be perfect for my family!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hi Katerina, soba noodles are such a great addition to your pantry. In a moments notice and with just a couple of ingredients, you can have a meal on your table in less than 30 minutes. Have a super week. BAM
ChgoJohn says
Buona sera, BAM! What a great post! Your description of waiting for the bus in sweltering heat brought to mind my office career days, arriving to work already sweating heavily. Unlike the poor Japanese, however, we had a/c and it was running full tilt. My Italian market won't allow photos, so I've been reminded a couple of times. The place had been recently featured on a national cooking show, so, you can imagine my surprise when I was told to put the camera away.
Your salad looks very good and is substantial enough to make a fine meal. I have to do more with soba noodles,too. I'm not familiar with kirimochi nor with norimaki. I'm going to look for them both the next time I go to a Japanese restaurant. Thanks for the heads up!
Have a great week!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Buona Sera John! Thanks so much for your kind comment.
There is nothing like the feeling of sticking to your work clothes before you even get to work. The trick about photo taking is to use your phone and pretend like you are on a skype conference call. Works like a charm all the time, well at least in a crowded and noisy place. Norimaki mochi is a real treat and if you happen to ever visit and Asian market that has Japanese food products just as them for kirimochi which are the pre made blocks of pounded mochi. They usually come in a pack of 8-10 with each one individually wrapped. You can make those little baked normaki mochi treats in about 5 minutes. You most likely will not see baked norimaki mochi at a resturant as it usually something that a Japanese home cook would make as treats for her/his family. I am on my way over to give you a visit. Take care, BAM
Amy (Savory Moments) says
Great salad - I love those matcha soba noodles! They are so pretty; I am going to keep a look-out for them at the grocery store.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Amy! Have a super week. BAM
Asmita (@FoodieAsmita) says
Wow Bam,
Looks and sounds incredible!!
Joanna says
Yeah, that's the only thing I'm thinking about is the plug-ins and such...and the personalization aspect. But I checked it out and to go premium (which I'll have to do for media space and to have my own site will be about the same price per year...BUT with my own site, I will have unlimited space, with WP 10 gigs is the max. Which is a lot, but still). Anywho...I've given you an award on my blog...Don't worry, no need to reciprocate or do anything, just go check it out please! 🙂 Find it here: http://foodgurly.com/2014/04/28/low-glycemic-gluten-free-sugar-free-brownies-wbuttercream-frosting-and-an-award/
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you Joanna for thinking of me. There are so many hosting companies around the world, so you just have to find the right one for you. Remember backing up and all the things you don't have to worry about as much now will be all your responsibility. Some hosting companies do a backup of all your things once a week, you need to ask about the details. Take care, BAM
shashi @ http://runninsrilankan.com says
Yum - this soba noodle salad sounds fantastic - I am so intrigued by the dressing with sesame oil, honey, tamari sauce, grated diakon and tamarind juice - sounds amazing!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks so much. I think this dressing has a nice balance between sweet, sour, savoury and just a tad of heat from the diakon. I hope you give it a try and adjust your amounts of each of the 4 components to your liking. Have a super week. Take Care, BAM
bentodays says
I haven't dropped by here in a while and so awed to see this post! I love soba and this looks absolutely yummy, would love to try this! It is going into my to-do must-do must-try list! Have a great week ahead!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks for dropping by and thanks so much for your kind comment. I am on my way over to your site. I have been having website issues and currently can't access the backend of Healthy World Cuisine, so please excuse my delayed replies. This little salad works so perfectly in a bento lunch. I think your family would quite like it. Have a super day. BAM
ashley says
Oh this is such a great idea! I love cooking with matcha powder. I made a green tea cake with it once.
Healthy World Cuisine says
The matcha is actually incorporated directly unit the noodles. It gives you just a little kick to get you through the day, but I think importantly it just gives the slab a beautiful green colour. Take Care, BAM
Conor Bofin says
Lovely as always BAM. Really lovely.
Best,
C
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Conor
Monica says
This has me seriously craving soba! I'm making some soon, even if it won't be as delicious as yours. Stay cool!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Monica! Happy Sunday to you! Soba is everywhere at the markets as it is the time of the year around Sakura season that makes it popular. It is another blazing hot day in HK.
GourmetGetaways (@GourmetGetaway) says
OH MY GOD!!! How can they wear so much fur! I would be melting hot in all that!! Love all your pics, really puts us in the picture. The soba noodles look delicious too 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Fur with shorts at that! I really need to start getting some more non food photos whilst living in Asia as there are some pretty unusual outfits that the teenagers wear today.
hotlyspiced says
My mother always told me, 'Ugg boots are not to be worn outside the house'. And she never had to tell me not to wear them with shorts because that was a given. I love soba noodles and this dish is just gorgeous, Bam. What a lovely salad and there are just so many flavours. It's really colourful and healthy and it's something I'm sure I could have seconds and even thirds. A great Good Friday dish xx
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hi there Charlie, I don't think either of our moms would need to tell us not to wear fur hats in the middle of summer. Uggg is right! Thanks so much for your sweet comment. Sometimes I need for my salads to have some sustenance and this one really hits the bill. I bet you are still on recovery after coordinating that exciting 21st B-day party. Have a super weekend. BAM
GourmetGetaways (@GourmetGetaway) says
Lol! no one should ever wear ugg boots outside the house!!
kellysiew says
Why do they need to set the aircond higher? To be Eco-friendly? I love soba noodles and I think I know have a craving!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Kelly. In Japan they set the aircons higher after the disaster as energy conservation was integral as not to stress the infrastructure after the devastation. Now they do it to conserve. I hope you can enjoy a light and delicious matcha soba salad soon.
Tandy | Lavender and Lime says
This sounds like a perfect meal 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Tandy!
Eha says
Beautiful salad - love soba noodles and use them at least a couple of times a week! Colourful, appetizing and healthy!! I guess this very modern gal must sound very old-fashioned when she admits I adore men in full suit and tie, including a vest - tailor-made, of course 🙂 ! All of 'my' guys always have, even in tropical countries 😀 !!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Eha. Thank you for your sweet comment. Have you noticed there is a new trend in Asia and in the hotter areas for special suits that are not lined but super thin material and even has air vents. My husband had one made and he said it made a big difference to help keep him cool and comfortable.