Edamame noodle salad

November 7, 2013

I've enjoyed edamame at Japanese restaurants for many years, but only just picked up a packet to cook at home for the first time. (Thanks to Johanna GGG for pointing out Yahweh Asian Grocery in Carlton as a source.) They proved easy to handle, defrosting quickly, boiling happily, and slipping - shiny and green - from their pods without too much fuss.

We plonked them into this noodle salad from Ottolenghi's Plenty. Though the ingredient list is characteristically lengthy, the cooking time is short and the two of us had this sorted in perhaps 20 minutes. I loved the herbs and the lime and tamarind, and ate as many of the fresh red chilli slices as I could stand. I picked out the larger chunks of galangal, though - it's got a lovely fragrance but I find its flesh a little acrid. I might use ginger next time.

We supplemented the salad with a seared mock cod fillet, which had a surprising pungency of its own.

Edamame noodle salad
(slightly adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi,
and previously published in The Guardian)

300g bag frozen edamame in pods
200g rice vermicelli
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
handful of green beans, trimmed and chopped into 5cm lengths 
1 large red chilli, finely chopped
3 tablespoons coriander, chopped
3 tablespoons mint, chopped
salt
sesame oil

sauce
2 tablespoons galangal, grated
juice of 4 limes
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate
1 teaspoon tamari
1 teaspoon salt

Defrost the edamame and set a large saucepan of water on to boil. Boil the edamame for 5 minutes and drain them, reserving the hot water. Place the vermicelli in the saucepan of water for 5 minutes to soften, then drain them. When they're cool enough to handle, pop the edamame from their pods and discard the pods.

In small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the garlic and white parts of the spring onions, stir-frying for a minute or two, until the garlic just begins to turn golden. Turn off the heat, add the noodles and the sauce, gently stirring everything together. Add the edamame, green beans, remaining spring onions and chilli. Return the pan to the heat for less than a minute, to warm it all through. Add salt, to taste. Stir through the coriander and mint, shake over a little sesame oil and serve.