Chicken Noodle Salad with Sesame Dressing AKA Hiyashi Chuka

On a hot summer day, a bowl of noodles might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of lunch or dinner. But did you know you can eat noodles cold? In fact, a cold chicken noodle salad, known in Japan as Hiyashi Chuka, is one of the most popular summer dishes. I flavour my cold chicken noodle salad dish with a sweet sesame and soy dressing that combines tahini paste (which you may know as sesame paste) and soy sauce. Along with slices of chicken, the dish also boasts five vegetable toppings - tomato, cucumber, lettuce baby corn and a little shredded shiso leaf (or cress). The chicken and vegetables in this dish are sliced into small pieces so that they can be easily mixed together with the noodles and dressing when eaten. Talking about the noodles, I use dried yellow noodles that you just cook in boiling water for a few minutes and set aside to cool - nothing fancy and easily available from most supermarkets.

All in all, your cold chicken noodle salad provides a healthy, nutricious dish that will grace any summer table.

If you are interested to try this recipe out, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Chicken Noodle Salad with Sesame Dressing or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.

Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

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ingredients:

(makes 2 servings)

2 babycorn

1/4 cucumber

1/2 medium size tomato

1 chicken breast

2 servings of dried yellow noodles

1 - 2 lettuce leaves

1 tsp sesame oil

for the sauce:

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp tahini or sesame paste

3 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp water

some shredded shiso leaves or cress for a topping

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how to:

slice the baby corn longways into 4 pieces

thinly slice the cucumber diagonally, then julienne

cut the tomato in half and remove the stem. cut into thin slice

thinly slice the lettuce leaves

slice the chicken breast into 2 thin fillets.

next, bring a pan of water to the boil, cook the yellow noodles according to the packet instructions (this usually means 4 - 5minutes.) you can cook the sliced baby corn in the same pan

once the noddles are cooked, remove the baby corn and drain the noodles. then, place the noodles on a plate of sieve and add 1 tsp of sesame oil. mix this in gently and it will stop the noodles from sticking together

cook the chicken fillets in a small pan boiling water for 8-10 minutes or until cooked through

the next step is to make the dressing. put the sugar, tahini paste, soy sauce and 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil into a bowl. mix well

add the rice vinegar and water and stir again

cut the chicken fillets into slices

now arrange your chicken noodle salad, place the noodles into 2 serving bowls

arrange the shredded lettuce, chicken slices, tomato, cucumber and baby corn over the noodles

top with a little shredded oba. finally drizzle the sesame dressing over the top and your dish is ready to serve

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