Soba noodles are supposed to be made with a 4:1 ratio of buckwheat flour to wheat flour. I don’t eat wheat flour, and buckwheat flour isn’t available in Lima, Peru, so I made a local version of soba noodles with rice flour and the baby sister of quinoa – canihua. It’s a seed, not a grain, and it’s packed with nutrients. It’s also a very dark flour hence the colour of the noodles above.
The method was the same. I used the recipe from the LA Times, following the “complicated” method as closely as possible. The only thing I didn’t follow was how to cut the noodles. Since I used rice flour I figured the noodles would fall apart more easily (gluten keeps them together and gluten-free flours, especially rice flour, need a little help in that department). So I rolled the dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap, as thin as possible, and then sliced skinny, long noodles. Then I tossed them in more rice flour before they had a chance to stick to each other again.
The beauty of this recipe is that there’s no egg or dairy, or anything besides flour and water, so the taste of the buckwheat (or in this case, Canihua), comes through. You can use other flours but both of these have a rich, nutty flavour. Regular quinoa flour would also work, and the more finely ground the flour, the better. Use 4:1 ratio of your nutty flour (canihua, buckwheat, quinoa) to rice flour for a gluten-free version, or re-replace the rice flour with regular wheat flour if you’re not gluten-free.
You can do a couple of dipping sauces to make this more interesting, but we served it with grilled eggplant with a miso-honey glaze and ridiculously starchy-sweet yams with miso and lime, so a basic (gluten-free) soy-lime dipping sauce was enough. Another option would be to blend soaked brazil nuts or cashews with soy sauce for a creamier version of the sauce. Tahini would be another good addition, and so would sesame oil.
Soba noodles are traditionally served cold, but it’s hard to not eat them straight out of the pot. Do as you will.
Canihua Noodles with Soy-Lima Dipping Sauce
40 grams rice flour
160 grams canihua flour (or quinoa flour, though the two are different)
80 grams water
Soy-Lime Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup gluten-free soy sauce or gluten-free tamari
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lime (adjust to taste)
Optional second creamy dip:
1/4 cup brazil nuts, soaked in 1/4 warm water for 30 minutes (drain and blend with remaining ingredients)
2 tbsp gluten-free soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice (juice of 1/2 a lime, approximately, or to taste)
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