Soba Salad

This soba salad recipe is very light and refreshing. It is one of my favorites for its slightly bitter crunch and ponzu type dressing.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup hijiki seaweed
1/3 cup wakame seaweed
1 package daikon sprouts
1 bunch watercress
1/2 sweet onion (Maui onion, Vidalia, etc.)
7 to 8 oz. soba noodles
2 tsp. oil
1 Tbsp. soy sauce (lower salt version)
1 Tbsp. sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak the hijiki and wakame in separate bowls of warm water for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. In a pan, combine the drained hijiki, oil, shoyu, and sugar. Cook until the liquid is absorbed by the hijiki.
3. Drain and chop the wakame into small 1 to 2 inch pieces.
4. Cut off the roots of the daikon sprouts and rinse.
5. Cut the watercress into 1 to 2 inch pieces.
6. Slice the onion into very thin pieces.
7. Cook the soba noodles according to package instructions. Rinse and drain noodles.
8. Layer the soba salad with the noodles on the bottom and the other ingredients on top.

Sauce
Combine the following ingredients:
1/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup shoyu
2 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. sugar

NOTES
Other good toppings for this soba salad include fried and slivered eggs or shredded imitation crab. The sauce is on the salty, sour side. Pretty much like a Japanese ponzu sauce. I often leave the sugar out for an even more salty, sour dressing. My noodles look really green because they are actually green tea soba noodles.