Chicken & Soba Noodle Salad

I borrowed Neil Perry's "Good Food" from the library last week mainly to look at the drool-worthy pictures.  Well, one of the recipes caught my eye, and it made a wonderfully light lunch for me today.  The recipe was simple and extremely appetising even though I didn't manage to get hold of all the ingredients listed in the recipe. 

Crab & Soba Noodle (adapted from Neil Perry's Good Food)

serves 4

250g picked fresh crab meat (I substituted with shredded chicken**)

270g packed dried soba noodles

1 red capsicum, seeds removed and cut into julienne

1 lebanese (short) cucumber, seeds removed and cut into julienne (I used japanese cucumber, worked out well)

3 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1 handful mint leaves, rinsed (I left this out, couldn't find mint leaves in the supermarket)

1 handful coriander leaves, rinsed

1 teaspoon sesame seeds, lightly roasted (I left this out too)

freshly ground pepper

sesame soy dressing:

3 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp light soy sauce (I added a splash more)

3 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp finely diced fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tbsp caster sugar

Directions

- Cook the noodles in boiling salted water until just tender, then refresh in cold water and drain well

- To make the dressing, place all the ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid, seal and shake vigourously.  Set the dressing aside. (I poured all the ingredients in a bowl and mixed with a small whisk)

- For the salad, simply mix the noodles, capsicum, cucumber, spring onion and herbs together, and toss gently with half the dressing.  Place the noodle sald in the centre of four serving plates.  Divide the crabmeat (chicken) among the salads, sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle with the remaining dressing.  Give a good grind of fresh pepper and serve.

* You can exchange the crab for prawns, scallops, lobster or chicken.

** To prepare the chicken, boil a piece of chicken breast meat until fully cooked through (around 15-20 mins).  Set aside to cool.  Shred the chicken meat when fully cooled.