Soba Noodles with Fresh Vegetables and Pan-Grilled Tofu

I've been into many things Japanese lately. For years now, I've been enjoying sushi, edamame, and tofu. I've enjoyed many an evening watching Iron Chef and then Iron Chef America.


Lately I've been very fascinated the show I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

One one episode of the game show, the winning team's reward was to see how soba noodles were made and to have them prepared fresh. It looked great! I think on that particular episode, the loosing team had to shell and clean live clams for food preparation - a messy, smelly job.

But in general, I'm intregued by the Japanese culture and its food. So it's time I start experimenting more.

Two weeks ago I went to a restaurant in Harvard Square where I had soba noodles for the first time. I felt that soba noodles would be an easy place to start my adventures into Japanese cooking. Soba noodles are buckwheat noodles. The packages at my local grocery store are 12 oz. and have 3 bundles.

So I've been doing some experimenting this week, making many adaptations to a recipe I saw on Epicurious.com and I am very happy to present to you, this resulting recipe!