Mixed Salad with Rice

The heat is on in Frankfurt. I ought to be ashamed of myself for not being able to withstand 25 degrees Celsius since I’m from Singapore. My excuse is that the tiny island is well equipped with air-conditioning. You could shop on Orchard Road without ever seeing the sun for goodness sake!

Here’s what we’ll be expecting this week in Frankfurt. Temperatures are up and although I don’t take the heat as well as Daniel, I love clear skies and plenty of sunshine. You won’t find me tanning myself though.

When I asked Daniel what he fancied for dinner on a hot day, he suggested mixed salad with rice. It reminded him of what he would get when they get their occasional heatwave in the UK.

Here’s a list of ingredients we used in our mixed salad which by the way is perfect for any hot day.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Iceberg salad (lettuce)
1 yellow pepper, chopped
3 small carrots, grated
5 radish, thinly sliced
Half a cucumber, sliced
1 avocado, chopped into cubes
1 tin of tuna mixed with kidney beans and corn
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Gouda cheese, cut into cubes (or any cheese you prefer)

Instructions

Mix the ingredients all in a huge bowl. Add salad dressing only after you’ve dished up. This is so you can keep the remaining salad without it becoming all soggy overnight.

To make it a more substantial meal, we heated up some Uncle Ben’s Basmati Rice with Curry. You could serve it with a bread roll or long grain rice. Or, just help yourself to more salad if you want to omit carbs.

 

The different ingredients used gave the salad an excellent texture. While the avocado was softer (more of a creamy texture), the pepper added crunch to the salad overall. And since it was so light, it does help cool is down on a hot day. Always a bonus to NOT stand in front of a cooking stove too!

What do you like to have on a hot day? Feel free to suggest a recipe or two in the comments section below!

Soba Salad with Honey Soy Sauce

With temperatures looking like they will soar slightly over the next couple of weeks, I'm really eager to share with you a tried and tested Soba Salad with Honey Soy Sauce recipe.

Refreshing Soba Salad, perfect on a hot summer's day.

Soba is one of my favourite Japanese noodles. It's made out of buckwheat and you'll just need to boil the noodles according to the instructions on the packaging. If you live in Frankfurt, soba is readily available at all Asian supermarkets.

This recipe was adapted from Just One Cookbook (my favourite online Japanese cooking resource).

Firstly, here's the list of ingredients for the sauce (For original recipe, please see here.)
1 Tbsp. canola or grapeseed oil
3 Tbsp. sesame oil
½ tsp. mixed chilli & pepper
3 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. soy sauce

Other Ingrediants
3-4 bundles of soba noodles (serves 4)
1 spring onion
2 medium carrots, grated

Instructions
1. Mix the oil, mixed chilli and pepper and sesame oil in a small sauce pan. Heat it on medium heat for 10 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the honey well with the soy sauce.

3. When the oil mixture is done, carefully mix it with the honey and soy sauce. Whisk well to ensure that the honey is dissolved.

4. Cook the soba noodles according to the instructions on the packaging (no need to add salt!). Once it's cooked, run it under cold water and set aside to drain.

5. In a big bowl, mix the soba, spring onions, carrots and honey soy sauce. Toss the mixture well and serve either cold or at room temperature.

Although I had this for lunch on a day with a maximum of only 14 degrees Celsius, I can imagine how refreshing the noodles would be on a hot summer's day. I love it so much that I'm serving it for dinner as a main dish with a couple of pan-fried salmon fillets.