Chilled Crab And Sesame Noodle Salad
chinese, fish, low-fat, salads, tnt
----SIMPLY SEAFOOD; FALL 1991----
8 oz dry wheat noodles
2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
2 large carrots
1 medium cucumbers
1/2 lb crabmeat
----SESAMESOY DRESSING----
1/3 cup vinegar, rice; seasoned
1/4 cup cilantro, fresh; minced stems & leaves
1/4 cup juice, lemon
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin; sweet rice wine
1/2 tablespoon ginger, fresh; grated
1 tablespoon oil, sesame
Seafood alternatives: cooked and chilled clam or mussel meats; canned salmon, drained and flaked; cooked shrimp
This is a good choice for a make ahead meal.
Dressing: stir all ingredients together; use, or cover and chill up to 1 week.
Shred carrots. Halve, seed, and thinly slice cucumber. Cook noodles in boiling water until al dente, about 1 minute for fresh noodles, about 3 minutes for dry. It is best to slightly undercook noodles. Drain noodles and run under cold water until chilled; drain well. Toss noodles in a bowl with half the dressing; cover and chill until ready to serve. (Noodles will soak up dressing as they stand; if noodles seem dry, toss with 2 or 3 Tablespoons of the remaining dressing just before serving.) Stir sesame seed in a small frying pan over medium heat until golden, 5 to 8 minutes. Pour into a bowl. To serve, toss noodles with sesame seed then pile noodles on a serving platter; garnish with some of the green onion. Serve the remaining onion, the carrot, cucumber, and surimi crab in separate bowls alongside. Let each person assemble his or her own salad. Drizzle salads with remaining dressing.
Sylvia's comments: I made this for a church potluck and realized too late that I didn't have any mirin. It was a bit vinegary without, so I substituted 1 ts sugar for the missing 1/4 c mirin. I also just tossed everything together rather than trying to drag 15 different bowls to the potluck. I tossed in the dressing just before serving. This is an odd combination of flavors, but they worked. I don't think I'd do this for a potluck again because I don't like leaving seafood unrefrigerated for that. It's dressy enough for an at-home outdoor picnic, though, where you could keep it refrigerated until just before serving and stick it back in the fridge once everyone had eaten. The portions are VERY generous, could easily serve double the number of people as a side dish.
Posted on GEnie Food & Wine RT Jan 08, 1992 by S.MEASE [COOKIE LADY]
From the recipe files of Sylvia Steiger, SylviaRN (at) compuserve (dot) com, moderator of GT Cookbook and FringeNet Lowfat & Luscious echoes, creator of Frazzled Cook breadmachine mixes at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SylviaRN
From: Sylvia Steiger Date: 12 May 97 National Cooking Echo Ä
Yield: 4 big bowls