Cook: Tracie's Somen Salad

My Aunt Tracie always makes this delicious, cold somen salad when we have family gatherings. Hence why it’s named after her! This is another easy dish that serves a lot of people and is always a hit at potlucks. Somen salad is a Japanese dish that is always served cold and something that you’ll often find in Hawaii. For somen noodles, I like the JFC Tomashirga somen noodles or the Hakubaku brand. You should be able to find somen noodles at your local Asian market.


Prep Time: 30 minutes, Total Time: 1 hr 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of somen noodles (boiled and drained)

  • Iceberg lettuce (shredded)

  • Char Siu pork (I usually buy some already cooked from the Asian store - you can also use ham)

  • 2 eggs - scramble the eggs, cook them on low in a flat plan and then thinly slice (see photo below)

  • 1 package of Kamaboko (fish cake with the bright pink outside, you can use any fish cake you like. In the photo below, I’ve also added a vegetable fish cake)

  • 3 green onion stalks (thinly sliced)

 

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp of sesame oil

  • 2 tbsp of sugar

  • 1 tsp of salt

  • 1/4 cup of neutral cooking oil

  • 3 tbsp of vinegar (rice wine if you have it)

  • 2 tbsp of soy sauce

  • 1 tsp of MSG

    *Put all the ingredients in a bottle and mix well

Directions:

  • Layer the somen noodles in a 9in x 13in pan.

  • Add lettuce, kamoboko, char siu, egg and green onion.

  • Pour sauce over the salad (and leave some extra on the side)