Spicy sesame ramen salad

I love the recipes in Tim Anderson's new book Your Home Izakaya which is subtitled 'fun and simple recipes inspired by the drinking-and-dining dens of Japan' but this ramen salad really stood out for me and I can't wait to make it.

Tim writes: "The Japanese version of Sichuanese dandan noodles is tantanmen: ramen with spiced minced (ground) pork in a luxurious yet aggressive broth made from copious amounts of ground sesame and chilli oil. A variant sees these flavours translated into a massively flavourful noodle salad for all seasons, served cold but with plenty of carbs and fat to fill you up and plenty of chilli heat to keep you warm. If you have the chilli oil and sesame dressing ready to go (store-bought is fine), it’s really quick to put together, too.

SPICY SESAME RAMEN SALAD
冷やし坦々麺サラダ HIYASHI TANTANMEN SARADA

Serves 2 or up to 4 as part of a larger meal

2 tbsp chilli oil, or more, to taste
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cm (½ in) piece of ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
150 g (5 oz) minced (ground) pork
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
100 g (3½ oz) beansprouts
2 portions ramen noodles
90–100 ml (3–3½ fl oz/scant ½–â…“ cup) sesame dressing (below)
1 cucumber, julienned
2 spring onions (scallions), very finely sliced at an angle
1 punnet salad cress
1 tbsp sesame seeds, crushed to the consistency of coarse sand
a few pinches of shichimi and sanshō (optional)
1 egg yolk

METHOD

Open a window or put your extractor fan on. Heat the chilli oil on a medium-high heat in a frying pan (skillet) and add the garlic, ginger and pork and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, breaking the pork up as you go. Add the soy sauce and mirin and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so until the liquid has reduced completely. Set aside and leave to cool while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the beansprouts for 30–60 seconds until just cooked, then remove with a sieve or slotted spoon and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Allow the water in the pan to come back to the boil, then cook the noodles until a bit softer than al dente – they will firm up when you chill them, so they should seem a bit soft. Drain the noodles and rinse them under cold water, using your hands to toss them to make sure you remove as much residual starch as possible.

Combine half of the beansprouts with all of the noodles and toss together with half of the dressing. Transfer to a serving dish, then layer the remaining beansprouts on top of the noodles, along with the cucumber and spring onions. Drizzle over the remaining sauce and extra chilli oil, if you like, then garnish with the cress, sesame seeds and spices. Place the egg yolk in the centre and mix everything well before eating.

This would be good with edamame or a couple skewers of yakitori, recipes for which are both given in the book

Tim suggests pairing this with a a very cold beer or barley tea.

Sesame dressing

This recipe calls for Chinese or Japanese-style sesame paste which is made from toasted sesame seeds but tahini is OK too - it will provide a lighter flavour

Makes about 400ml (13 fl oz/generous 1 1/2 cups)

4 tbsp sesame seeds
180g (6 1/2 oz) sesame paste or tahini
150ml (5 fl oz/scant 2/3 cup) unsweetened soya milk
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp vinegar (I'm guessing rice vinegar here FB)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dashi powder

Tip the sesame seeds into a frying pan (skillet) and set over a medium-high heat. Cook the sesame seeds stirring constantly for about 10 minutes until they are noticeably more aromatic and darker in colour. Remove from the pan and leave to cool. Coarsely grind the sesame seeds in a mortar, food processor or spice mill, then add the remaining ingredients and stir until the sugar dissolves. Keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Extracted from Your Home Izakaya by Tim Anderson, published by Hardie Grant at £25. Photography by Laura Edwards.

Smacked Cucumber and Crispy Green Salad with Zingy Ginger Dressing

Although Jenny's Chandler's new book is called Green Kids Cook there are plenty of recipes that would appeal to adults too including this deliciously crunchy salad which provides an answer as to what to do with kohlrabi (I never know).

A perfect project for the summer holidays ahead - what better gift can you give your children than teaching them how to cook? (And look after the planet as they do so)

Jenny writes: "Bashing and splitting cucumber is traditional in Chinese salads – the cracks and rough edges soak up the dressing beautifully. This is a perfect salad for a hot, hot day.

Smacked Cucumber and Crispy Green Salad with Zingy Ginger Dressing

Makes 4 servings

1 medium cucumber

1⁄2 small kohlrabi, about 150g/5oz (optional)

150g/5oz beansprouts or home-sprouted lentils or mung beans, well washed

2 spring onions, sliced

Zingy Ginger Dipping Sauce (below)

1 baby gem lettuce

a small handful of coriander leaves

a few mint leaves

a handful of roasted peanuts

1. Place the cucumber on your chopping board and bash it firmly with a rolling pin, splitting the skin but not completely squashing the flesh. Hit it four or five times and then roll it over and do the same on the other side.

2 Now chop the cucumber into 2.5cm/1in chunks (it’s easiest to slice it lengthways and then chop up the slices) and place in large bowl.

3 Chop the long, leafy stems off the kohlrabi (these leaves can be sliced up and cooked in a stir-fry). Peel the round vegetable carefully, then cut it in half. Cut a few thin slices and then cut across these into matchsticks. Add to the bowl along with the beansprouts and the spring onions.

4 Pour over your zingy ginger dressing and place the bowl in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, slice the lettuce crossways into slivers, wash in a sieve or salad spinner and drain well.

6 When you are ready to serve, take the cucumber salad from the fridge, toss in the lettuce and herbs and top with the peanuts.

Do try kohlrabi if you can find it. It looks a bit like a space alien but it has a really mild flavour and the crunchiest texture imaginable.

And how about…

• adding a sliced red chilli for some pingy zing?

• serving this salad on top of cold, cooked rice noodles?

• wowing everyone by throwing in a few chunks of melon or watermelon?!

Zingy Ginger Dipping Sauce

Makes 4-6 servings

2 tbsp light brown Muscovado sugar

3 tbsp hot water

4 tbsp light soy sauce

4 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or lime juice)

3 spring onions, sliced

3-cm/1-in piece of fresh ginger

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 Put the sugar into a small bowl, add the hot water and stir to dissolve.

2 Stir in the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and spring onion.

3 Now grate the fresh ginger, skin and all, using the finest grater possible. Stir the juicy paste into the sauce.

4 Put the sesame seeds into a small pan over a medium heat and toast, shaking the pan gently after 1 minute, until the seeds begin to jump about.

5 Carefully tip the toasted sesame seeds into the sauce.

What to drink: Anything appley or limey would be delicious with this dish or an alcohol-free ginger beer

Extract from Green Kids Cook by Jenny Chandler (Pavilion Books). Image credit Kirstie Young. Knowing Jenny as I do I know she would love you to buy this from your local indy bookshop but if you don't have one near you you could order it through bookshop.org which will channel the order through a bookshop of your choice.

Five-spice smoked tofu nuggets

Tofu has never been my favourite ingredient to be honest but these brilliant smoked tofu 'nuggets' from my friend Elly Curshen's book Let's Eat are positively addictive.

Elly writes: These things are ridiculously delicious and I can't recommend them enough. They're great on the end of skewers and dipped into the satay sauce as party food. But if you don't want to serve this as a canapé the cubes of tofu are delicious on a bed of brown rice with some pok choy and the sauce drizzled over the top. (I actually served it with a crunchy vegetable salad based on the noodle salad in Elly's book. I'm not giving the recipe for that so you have to buy it!)

The tofu you choose is important. You want to look for one that comes as a big, solid, wet cube and nearly always in a cardboard box. The recipe requires this soft, wet kind to create the steam inside the crust that makes it puff up.

Make the dressing first so the nuggets stay nice and crisp.

Note: this recipe contains peanuts

Five-spice smoked tofu nuggets

Vegetarian, vegan.

Makes 8 (although I cut them slightly smaller to make 16. That might serve 4 at a pinch though don't bank on it)

1 x 225g box of smoked tofu
2 tbsp cornflour
¼ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
a large pinch of smoked paprika
300ml vegetable oil
2–4 tbsp Satay Dressing (see below)
flaked sea salt

Lay the block of tofu on a few sheets of kitchen paper. Fold another sheet of kitchen paper and use to press down gently on the top to absorb the moisture.

Cut the tofu up into 8 (or 16) equal-sized cubes. Put the cornflour in a shallow bowl, add the five-spice powder and paprika and mix well. Toss the tofu cubes in the spiced cornflour until they are dusted on all sides.

Pour the vegetable oil into a wok and place over a high heat. Once hot, shake off any excess flour then very carefully lower each nugget into the hot oil using a slotted spoon or tongs. Deep-fry, turning regularly (and very carefully), for 4–5 minutes until all sides are golden brown and crisp. Remove the tofu from the pan using a slotted spoon or tongs and drain on kitchen paper.

Sprinkle the cubes with flaked sea salt while they are still hot – this helps to keep them crispy. Put them on to skewers and serve with the dressing for dipping.

Satay dressing

Makes 6 portions

1 tsp light soft brown sugar
2 tsp lime juice
4 tbsp peanut butter (smooth or chunky is fine, and I actually find the cheaper, bog-standard versions work best)
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1¼ tbsp vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil
1¼ tbsp Sriracha (or more to taste)
2 tbsp sesame oil

Dissolve the sugar in the lime juice, then put it into a blender with all the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust as you see fit. That’s it. Once made, it will keep fine in the fridge in a jar for ages.

What to drink

The sauce is more important than the nuggets when it comes to finding a pairing. Winewise I'm thinking an off-dry riesling or young semillon. A medium-dry cider would also be good.

Elly Pear's Let's Eat is published by Harper Collins at £20.You might also like to try Elly's Smoked Salmon and Radish Salad from her first book, Fast Days and Feast Days.

Watermelon, halloumi, lime-pickled red onions

There have been a lot of great veggie cookbooks this summer but one of the most useful is Genevieve Taylor's Charred which finally empowers vegetarians to enjoy barbecues as much as meat eaters. That said this isn't the recipe in the book that makes the most extensive use of the grill but it's such a sublime combination of ingredients it's really summer on a plate.

Gen writes: OK, I’ll admit that no actual vegetables were grilled in the making of this salad but I hope you agree it is worthy of inclusion. And, after all, grilled halloumi with almost anything is very much worth eating. You cangrill watermelon (useful to know if your melon is a little underripe), but I do prefer its texture when eaten raw.

Serves 6–8

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

zest and juice of 2 limes

2 tsp caster sugar

1kg (2lb 3oz) watermelon, about ½ medium-sized one

4 tbsp olive oil

3 x 250g (9oz) blocks of halloumi, cut into 1cm (½ inch) thick slices

a small bunch of coriander (cilantro), leaves roughly chopped

a small bunch of mint, leaves roughly chopped

50g (½ cup) pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

Put the onion into a small bowl with the lime zest and juice and the sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside for about 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Cut the watermelon into 1cm (½ inch) thick wedges, trimming off the rind as you go. Spread over a large platter.

Fire up your barbecue ready for direct grilling, or heat up a griddle pan on the hob.

Drizzle a little of the oil over the halloumi (save the rest for the salad), then place directly over the heat on the grill bars. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until seared, then turn over with a fish slice and cook the other side. Once the halloumi is cooked, cut each slice in half on the diagonal and scatter over the watermelon.

Sprinkle over the coriander, mint and pickled onion slices, drizzling over the lime juice from the bowl too. Scatter thechopped pistachios over the salad Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper and serve immediately,while the halloumi is still warm.

What to drink: Any crisp fresh white would be great with this from an albarino to a sauvignon blanc.

Extracted from Charred by Genevieve Taylor, published by Quadrille at £16.99. Photograph © Jason Ingram.