Cool Sesame & Dino Kale Yuba Noodles

Cold sesame noodles are ubiquitous in Chinese cuisine. This version uses Hodo Yuba in place of a starchy noodle and with the addition of the hearty lacinato kale, this dish becomes an easy nutrient dense and delicious summer salad!

As a side dish, serves 4-6 and as a main, 2-3.

Method

• Remove Yuba from packet and place on cutting board. (There’s no need to unfold the sheets, but if you are unfamiliar with the yuba, there are two folded sheets in the pack, FYI!) Cut yuba to desired width, like you would with regular pasta – for this dish, I prefer about 1/2″ wide noodles. Toss cut yuba into a large mixing bowl and pull apart to separate.
• Rinse the kale and strip the main vein out, reserve to snack on, stir-fry or pickle! Cut similarly to the yuba noodles in width (hint: cut lengthwise to get longer rather than shorter strips.) Toss chopped kale in with the yuba and set aside.
• For the sesame sauce, these are the basic ingredient quantities, but as always, adjust to taste! (You can use this sauce with anything, by the way, regular noodles, as a dipping sauce for veggies & tofu, etc etc etc.) Peel ginger and grate, conserving the liquid as well. Peel and mince the garlic (I tend to drop both ginger and garlic into the food processor at the same time and mince into almost a paste.) Add all other ingredients and puree together.
• Add sauce to yuba and kale and mix well! Garnish as you like. As a side dish, serves 4-6 and as a main, 2-3.
• Sesame sauce can be prepared up to a few days in advance.  The salad can be prepared a day in advance – yuba and kale both hold up very well, and the kale actually softens up a bit with time!  (Perfect for picnic planning.)