Perilla Oil Noodles

Name: Perilla Oil Noodles
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Ingredients: 2 bundles soba; 2 sheets nori / seaweed; 3 tablespoons roasted white sesame seeds; 2 tablespoons perilla oil; 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or tsuyu sauce); 2 stalks green onions (chopped or julienned)

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We love Perilla Oil Noodles! Delicious and super easy to make. Toss cold soba noodles with a perilla oil sauce, crushed nori, and sesame seeds for a refreshing dish. So good on a hot day. Enjoy plain or top with protein of your choice ^_^

These noodles are simple and refreshing. The only "special" ingredient you need is perilla oil. You can get that at any Korean market (we go to H Mart and Palama Market).

I use soba but you can use any kind noodles. This recipe also works good with somen noodles!

Eat it plain, or top with protein. I like to poach (or roast) and shred chicken thighs. A nice piece of salmon or ahi is always welcome. Or an egg! And some thinly sliced cucumbers for some veggies ^_^

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

Soba
Nori / seaweed
Roasted white sesame seeds
Perilla oil
Soy sauce or mentsuyu sauce
Green onions chopped or julienned

For more details about a few specific ingredients...

Perilla Oil

You can fine perilla oil at Korean supermarkets. Here in Honolulu, I go to H Mart and Palama Market (I took the above photo at Palama Market).

Perilla oil is sold next to the sesame oil and there are several different brands. This is the brand I used for today's recipe.

Perilla oil is oil from roasted perilla seeds (similar to how sesame oil is from roasted sesame seeds). It's rich, earthy, and nutty. So good!

Roasted Nori / Seaweed Sheets

Make sure to big sheets of roasted seaweed that are marked for making sushi rolls or kimbap. They are usually sold 10 or 20 sheets per pack.

Note: Do not use the small, salted sheets that are meant for snacking or eating with rice (and DIY sushi dinners).

Soba

You can buy soba at pretty much every kind of supermarket these days! There are many different brands from the bulk packs to organic options, and I don't have a favorite among all the supermarket brands.

This 8 bundle pack was on sale at H Mart so that's what I bought and used for this recipe. You need 1 bundle per person.

Instructions

Let's get cooking!

Prepare the soba noodles.
Bring a big pot of water to boil. Add the noodles and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and immediately rinse the noodles under cold running water until the noodles are cool. Set the noodles aside in a colander to drain completely.

Sauce for Perilla Oil Noodles with soba.

Mix the sauce.
Combine the perilla oil and soy sauce in a small bowl. Use chopsticks or a spoon to mix vigorously until the oil and sauce are well combined. Set aside.

Making the seaweed and sesame seed topping for Perilla Oil Noodles with soba.

Make the topping.
Now make the nori and sesame seed topping! Tear the sheets of nori into small pieces. Place it in a mini food processor. Add the roasted white sesame seeds.

Then chop/blend/grind until you've have a nice powder-like mixture.

No food processor? No problem. See FAQ section below for what to do.

Now we plate!
Divide the noodles between two bowls. Drizzle the perilla oil and soy sauce mixture on top (divide evenly between the two bowls). Use chopsticks to gently toss the noodles with the sauce until mixed.

Place 1-2 tablespoons of the nori and sesame seed topping on top of the noodles. Then top with the chopped green onions.

And eat!
Mix, mix, mix, and then eat ^_^

FAQ

What if you don't have a mini food processor to make the topping?

No problem! There are two good options:

- Use a mortar and pestle to grind the sesame seeds by hand. Then hand-tear the sheets of nori by hand into very small pieces. Mix and use.

- Or you can leave the sesame seeds whole. Since they'll be less fragrant this way, you can sort of "make up for it" by gently heating the sesame seeds over medium-low heat until they get nice and toasty (be careful not to burn). Mix with the hand torn sheets of nori.

What if you don't want to buy an entire jar of perilla oil for this recipe?

So! Fair question. You can use roasted sesame oil instead of perilla oil...BUT it will be an entirely different dish. A good dish but a different dish. It'll technically be sesame oil noodles.

Sesame oil and perilla oil are sold right next to each other at the Korean market but they have completely different taste / flavors.

I think it is worth buying a jar of perilla oil for this recipe. You'll make it over and over again!

Re: using mentsuyu sauce instead of soy sauce

In the ingredients section I note that you can use mentsuyu sauce instead of soy sauce. It's an easy and tasty way to give extra flavors to this dish.

Mentsuyu sauce (also called tsuyu sauce) is a concentrated Japanese noodle soup base. It's also used for tempura sauce and noodle dipping sauce. We also use it to make dishes like natto udon and mentaiko udon. It's sold bottled at Japanese markets - we always keep a bottle in the fridge because it comes in handy. Mentsuyu is made from soy sauce, sake, mirin, dashi, etc. So flavorful and good.