Tim says: “Summers in most of the Japanese archipelago are brutally hot and humid, hardly conducive to ramen eating, which is the culinary equivalent of sitting in a steam room. So ramen shops in Japan usually offer something like this chilled ramen salad, called hiyashi chūka, to get the customers in. The noodles ensure it’s a substantial meal, but it’s still light and fresh”.

Serves 4

Ingredients

100g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp caster or granulated sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
100g mixed salad leaves – try to get a mix of peppery/mild and crunchy/tender – I like pea shoots and rocket
½ cucumber, julienned
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
4 portions of uncooked ramen noodles
240ml sesame dressing (recipe below), thinned with a little water and salt or soy sauce
2 avocados, sliced about 3 mm thick
a few pinches of sesame seeds

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350°F/Gas 6).

Toss the cherry tomatoes together with the soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil, then transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until they’re slightly shrivelled and browned. Leave them to cool, then toss them together with the salad leaves, cucumber and carrots.

Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil. Cook the ramen a little more than al dente (the noodles firm up a lot when you chill them down), then drain and rinse very well under cold running water – they should be thoroughly chilled, with as little excess starch as possible. Drain well, then toss with the dressing of your choice.

Transfer to plates or shallow bowls, along with any dressing left in the bowl, then top with the salad mixture, avocado slices and sesame seeds.

‘Deep roast’ sesame dressing

Tim says: “Sesame dressing is truly wonderful stuff, addictively creamy and tangy, and rich with the irresistible nutty aroma of sesame. You can buy it in Asian supermarkets (and by all means do so, it’s tasty and inexpensive), but it’s also dead easy to make at home, with ordinary supermarket ingredients.

This recipe really ramps up the roasty-toasty aroma by pan-frying the sesame paste to provide an incredible bittersweet, caramelised flavour.”

Makes 500ml

Ingredients

100g tahini
100g sesame seeds
300ml soy milk
2 tbsp sesame oil
90ml vinegar
2 tbsp caster or granulated sugar
90ml (6 tbsp) soy sauce
½ tsp salt
½ tsp dashi powder

Method

Tip the tahini and sesame seeds into a frying pan, ideally non-stick, and set over a medium-high heat. Fry for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until it is noticeably more aromatic and darker in colour (it should go from camel-coloured to… let’s say taupe).

Remove the tahini from the pan and leave to cool, then stir in the remaining ingredients until the sugar dissolves. Store in the refrigerator for 1 week (it will start to taste a bit stale after this; if you don’t think you’ll get through it quickly enough, the recipe is easily halved).

From Vegan Japaneasy: Classic & Modern Vegan Japanese Recipes To Cook At Home by Tim Anderson (£22.99, Quadrille), out now

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