Soba Noodle Salad with Mushrooms

Ingredients

Mushroom Noodles

• 250g Chestnut Mushrooms
• 3 tbsp black and white sesame seeds
• 2 bundles of buckwheat (Soba) noodles
• Fresh chilli, finely chopped or chilli flakes
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• Big handful fresh coriander, stems finely chopped
• 1 small ripe avocado, chopped or sliced
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced and green bits too

Quick ‘pickled’ cucumbers

• 1/2 medium cucumber
• Juice of 1/2 lime, slice the rest of the lime into wedges
• Sea salt

Dressing

• 1 big clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tsp of your favourite chilli sauce

Method

1. Finely slice the cucumber and pop into a small bowl with the lime juice and a pinch of sea salt then scrunch the cucumber so it’s coated and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix all the dressing Ingredients together.
3. Heat up a large frying pan or wok, melt the coconut oil and roughly slice the mushrooms.  Add the mushrooms and let fry on a medium high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then until the mushrooms release their liquid and they start going golden at the edges. Add the chilli, sesame seeds and maple syrup, stir and let fry with the mushrooms for a final minute.
4. Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and cook the noodles according to packet instructions – typically around 4-5 minutes, drain and immediately rinse with cold water, shake off any excess water, a little water is fine then tip into a medium bowl (in which you have mixed all the dressing Ingredients together).  You want to mix the noodles with the dressing straight away so that it stops the noodles sticking.
5. This salad is great warm or cold from the fridge, toss everything together with spring onions and coriander and top with the avocado and quickly pickled cucumbers plus the leftover ½ lime sliced into wedges.