Buckwheat noodles: how to cook and what dishes can be made from it?

Today it is difficult to meet someone who is not familiar with Japanese cuisine.In cities and towns and cities there are many different cafes, restaurants and delivery services that can offer the buyer an extensive menu of Oriental cuisine. In addition to sushi and rolls, you can often find noodle dishes with various fillings, be it vegetables or meat.

Along with the usual wheat noodles, which is common in our country everywhere, brown noodles with an unusual, stronger taste are often found in the menu. This product is called "soba", and in some regions of Japan this dish has a similar, but slightly longer name - "nihon-soba."

Soba is buckwheat noodles, used to cook various soups, and also used as a side dish for the second dish. It contains only water, flour made from ground buckwheat, and some rye or wheat flour. The latter are added in small quantities in order to impart stickiness to buckwheat, which practically does not have it.

This product is made in the form of long flat sticks of gray-brown color. Most often in the package all the sticks are divided into several parts, each of which is tied with a small paper ribbon. This is done so that the noodles do not stick together, and it is easy to determine the amount needed per person.

100 g of boiled sob contains 11 g of protein, 52 g of carbohydrate and 0 g of fat. Its nutritional value is about 125 kcal. Of course, fried noodles will be somewhat more caloric, since frying adds fats in the form of various oils. The composition of buckwheat flour includes vitamins of group B, namely vitamin B2 and B1. It contains such beneficial substances as choline and rutin. Choline helps reduce cholesterol levels in the human body and normalizes blood pressure.

Nutritionists recommend adding such noodles to the menu for metabolic disorders and reduced metabolism, since the trace elements that make up it help the body's metabolic processes. According to reviews, the regular use of buckwheat dishes contributes to the normalization of digestion and the appearance of a feeling of lightness in the stomach and intestines. There are practically no negative consequences of using this product in reasonable quantities. The only reason soba can harm a person is the individual intolerance of any of its components.

Today, ready-made soba can be found in almost any supermarket both in a specialized department with oriental cuisine, and on shelves with other pasta. Nevertheless, there are buyers who are embarrassed by the composition of the product, as it may contain various preservatives and stabilizers. In order to accurately be sure of the quality of the consumed food, it is best to cook it yourself. This will require:

• 1.5 Art. buckwheat flour (or 3 tbsp. buckwheat);
• 2.5 Art. durum wheat flour;
• 1 tbsp. hot but not boiling water.

First of all, it is necessary to make fine flour from ordinary buckwheat. To do this, you can use special kitchen machines or even an ordinary coffee grinder. In order to get 1.5 cups of ready-made flour, you will need, on average, about 2.5-3 cups of ordinary buckwheat grains. The resulting gray flour should be sifted through a fine sieve and mixed with 2.5 cups of durum wheat flour.

Hot water is poured into the mixture in small portions, and elastic dough is kneaded. Water should be around 85-90 degrees for wheat to produce gluten, which binds all the ingredients into a single mass. First, you can mix with a spoon or a special silicone cooking spatula, and at the end, knead the dough better with your hands.The finished dough should be given a "rest" for about 30 minutes in a cool place under the cling film, after which you can proceed to rolling and cutting.

The most convenient way is to roll out buckwheat-wheat mass in a special typewriter that does this automatically, but it’s not so difficult to make an ordinary rolling pin. The thickness of the finished sheet should not exceed 1.5 mm. It is best not to roll the whole dough at once, but to divide it into several parts.

The finished layer should be sprinkled with flour and left to dry for 15-20 minutes. After that, you can begin cutting strips of noodles with a thickness of 5-10 mm. Ready noodles are best to roll out in flour, so that it does not stick together, and dried in natural conditions or in a cooling oven (50-60 degrees) for about 1.5-2 hours.

Soba can be prepared in two ways:

• just boil in salted water;
• boil gently and then fry in a deep frying pan (wok).

Cooking ordinary boiled soba should be done in the same way as any other noodles. If soba was purchased at the store, then it should be freed from the thin strips of paper with which it was pulled. If soba was prepared by yourself, you just need to get the required amount from the jar or box in which it is stored. To determine how much noodles will be needed per serving, it is enough to combine the thumb and index fingers. As many chopsticks fit in the resulting space, so much product is needed for one serving of the finished dish.

For boiled sob you need to boil water in the amount of 1.5 liters per 1 portion of the product. Salt and pepper water is better to boil to your liking. Long plates are poured into the boiling liquid, which, as they soften, should be completely covered with water.

Once all the noodles are in the water, you can pinpoint 10 minutes and cook it. Periodically, the noodles should be stirred, raising it from the bottom to the surface. Ready soba poured into a colander and washed with water so that it does not stick together and lay out on plates. You can pour sauce on top of it, add various toppings.

Fried soba is started to be prepared exactly according to the same algorithm, only they boil not 10 minutes, but only 5. After this, the soba is washed through a colander and poured into a preheated frying pan greased with butter. Roasted boiled product literally 5-10 minutes with constant stirring.

In order to make not only healthy, but also a tasty dish, it is not enough just to boil or fry soba. Its taste is fully revealed only in tandem with vegetables, meat or seafood. In addition, it can be filled with various spices or sauces, which can be purchased at various stores.

One of the most popular vegetarian dishes and a great side dish for everyone else is buckwheat noodles cooked with vegetables. In order to make 4 servings of this simple dish, you need a lot of ingredients:

• 300 g dry sob;
• 1 young eggplant (can be replaced with zucchini);
• 1 Bulgarian pepper;
• 1 medium carrot;
• 1 onion (you can use both onions, and red or leek);
• 2-3 cloves of garlic;
• soy sauce;
• vegetable oil;
• sesame, salt, pepper, wine or oyster vinegar to taste.

Soba is cooked until half cooked in salted water and washed in a colander. All vegetables are cut into thin strips and fried in a wok (or deep frying pan) in sunflower oil until soft. Noodles, sesame, spices and soy sauce are added to the vegetables and everything is stewed for 5-10 minutes. The finished dish is laid out in deep bowls and poured the remnants of the sauce from the pan.

The most classic option for cooking buckwheat noodles is roasting it in a wok with chicken. For cooking you will need:

• 300 g dry sob;
• 500 g chicken fillet;
• 1 onion;
• 1 Bulgarian pepper;
• 1 large tomato;
• soy sauce;
• salt, pepper to taste.

In a deep frying pan fried salted and peppered chicken, cut into small strips. Vegetables are added to it, and all this is poured with soy sauce. The amount of sauce depends solely on personal preference. You can add a couple of tablespoons, but you can - a whole glass of this brackish liquid with a strong aroma. Soba is boiled in salted water until half cooked, after which it is washed and combined with meat and vegetables in a pan. Everything is stewed under a closed lid for 10-12 minutes and served in deep, wide plates.

Instead of chicken, you can add beef and pork to the soba, stew seafood or fish pieces. The principle of cooking all these dishes is the same. In order for the vegetables in the noodles to remain crispy, they need only be slightly fried over high heat, and if soft strips of meat are needed, then they should be stewed under a closed lid for 20-25 minutes. Buckwheat noodles go well with Korean carrots, tofu cheese, any oily fish, and even sweet pineapples.

But the classic European combination of noodles and cheese for sob is not very suitable because of its specific buckwheat flavor. Ready meals can be served both in portions, and in a large common plate, it is eaten with chopsticks and forks, decorated with greens and nuts. Flight of fantasy can be almost unlimited, you can surprise your family and friends with your culinary experiments, collecting them for tasty and healthy lunches and dinners.

About what to cook buckwheat noodles, see the following video.