Summer Soba Salad with Wildbrine Sauerkraut

July is National Picnic Month! Let’s make some colorful dish with fresh summer vegetables and get a picnic party started! 

 

After we had a heatwave hit several weeks ago in my local place, it’s been nicely cool and breezy. My husband and I usually eat lunch in the living room, but since the weather was perfect to eat outside, we’ve decided to have some picnic party in our backyard! 

 

When some fun is about to happen, we got to make it extra exciting, right? So as my food of the day in this summer, I added new product I’m recently introduced: Sauerkraut!

 

Are you ready to join my picnic party? Let’s cook the main dish of the day together!

 

<Today’s Recipe>

Summer Soba Salad with Wildbrine Sauerkraut

<Ingredients>

*May contain Amazon Associate links. By clicking the links, they will take you to the specific Amazon.com product page and you’ll see what ingredients/tools are recommended for making the food of the day. As an Amazon Associate I will receive a very small commission from qualifying purchases.

• 1 portion dried buckwheat noodle (soba)
• 2+~ tablespoons sauerkrauts from Wildbrine (I used arame and ginger flavor)
• 2 leaves green lettuce
• 3 radishes  – finely shredded
• 1 medium carrot – finely shredded & optional for cut into cute shapes.
• 1 egg – boiled and cut in lengthwise *omit if you want to keep it vegan! Except the egg, today’s dish is completely vegan;)
• 1 stalk green onion – chopped
• 1 leave purple cabbage – finely shredded
• 1 tomato – chopped
• ½ cucumber – cut in julienne

Dressing

• ¼ cup sake for cooking
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kelp soup base
• Some water to adjust taste
• ¼ cup some ice cubes

Optional toppings

• Wasabi paste
• Ginger paste
• Shredded roasted seaweed (nori sheet)

<Directions>

1. Make dressing. Combine all the ingredients together in a sauce pot and bring it to medium high heat. When sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and let sit for a while to cool.
2. Cook buckwheat noodles. Fill water in a pan or pot and bring it to boil. Add noodles and wait for 1 min. Noodles are now soft enough without breaking when touched, so stir a few times to avoid them sticking to each other.
3. When the dressing is cool enough, pour some water to adjust the taste. Add some ice cubes to chill the dressing and set aside.
4. Drain noodle and rinse with cold running water.
5. Assemble all the noodles, vegetables, and toppings together in a bowl. Pour dressing right before you start eating. Enjoy the food and conversation with your picnic buddy!

 

<Cooking Tips>

When watering down the dressing, set it to an “a little bit too rich” level. Cold noodles and vegetables will make the whole flavor nice and milder to enjoy as a complete meal. 

Yummy food, loving family, nice weather, birds chirping as the mealtime BGM…when everything got together, our another sweet summer memory has been created! 

<The Highlighted Ingredients : Wildbrine Sauerkraut>

I used the arame & ginger flavor of krauts from Wildbrine for this recipe. In my picnic lunchbox, you can spot them on the top center area, right above the boiled egg.

Sauerkrauts from Wildbrine are perfect probiotic foods made as naturally fermented, organic, vegan, gluten free. Wildbrine has several more flavors including dill & garlic, jalapeno lime, or caraway apples etc but I definitely like to pair it with arame & ginger flavor especially when you’re cooking Asian inspired food. The aroma of ginger and umami that comes from arame(a type of seaweed) boosts the whole flavor, and healthily created krauts’ tangy taste adds a pleasant jab to our taste buds, and the crunchy texture let our mouth start a dance party…overall, the krauts brings a dish to a whole next level! 

It was our first time adding sauerkrauts except in hot dogs, but they definitely changed our view of krauts. Unlike just loading up with fresh vegetables, just a tablespoon or a little more krauts per a single dish adds the depth in flavor. We discussed about how we can use krauts to other recipes in our picnic party…That means they actually provided an opportunity to enjoy another National Food Month in July…National Culinary Art Month!

We might know already that probiotics are one of the most important key factors to stay healthy because they support our digestive and immune system, but Let’s make sure of them again…it’s summer, so we have several reunion plans, beach/picnic parties, or any other events full of summer vibes, right? But while you spend busy days, your body eventually starts feeling tired and possibly would have to cancel a plan you’re looking forward to because you need a break…Missing fun event isn’t  what you want in your summer, right? Let’s add some krauts from Wildbrine and stay healthy to enjoy whole summer! 

 

Thank you for Wildbrine for sending such an amazing gift! I can’t wait to cook another dish like handrolls, soups, sandwiches with other flavored krauts like we discussed in our picnic date…Also I just heard they have kimchi and salsa too, so my party plans are booked for this summer! 

 

<Interested in Bringing some Krauts from Wildbrine to Your Dish?>

• Let’s browse their products here and find your first-to-be-tried! 

• To shop Wildbrine products, check this page! 

• More about health benefits of fermented foods 

 

<Some Other Probiotic Food Ideas>

Yogurt is another perfect probiotic food! Rose Lassi

How about miso, fermented soybean paste food? Roasted Eggplant Miso Ginger Sauce

Do you say yay or nay to natto’s scent? Natto Gohan

Enjoy home cooking and your own creation of homemade food in this picnic season:)