Name: Cold Noodles with Tomato
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 4 min
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 1 bunch Somen noodles; 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved; 2 tsp salt; ¼ cup rice vinegar; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp brown sugar; 1 tbsp sesame oil; ½ tsp garlic mustard; ½ tsp garlic powder; 1.5 cups cold filtered water; 2 radishes, thinly sliced; 1 scallion, thinly sliced; 2-4 ice cubes; sesame seeds

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Tomato Cold Noodles

The perfect light lunch for those sticky summer days when you just don’t feel like cooking!

This dish is an American take on North Korean nangmyun (cold noodles), that highlights summery sweet cherry tomatoes.

Top it off with radishes, scallions and ice cubes for the ultimate refreshing, slurp-able summer meal!

Tomato Cold Noodles Video Recipe

@shershegrows
Tomato cold noodles 🍅🍜 a refreshing lunch in anticipation of summer #nangmyeon #coldnoodles #summernoodles #coldsoba
♬ original sound – Sher

Ingredients

soy sauce

rice vinegar

sesame oil

garlic mustard (I like Trader Joe’s version)

cherry tomatoes

radish

green onion

Cold Noodles in Chilled Tomato Broth

Some notes on how to perfectly make cold noodles and the tomato broth!

Nangmyeon

Korean cold noodles, or nangmyeon, hail from North Korea.

A bowl of chewy noodles is seeped in an ice cold broth, creating a refreshing and slurpy meal to cool you down on those sticky summer nights.

Traditionally, nangmyeon broth is made out of radish kimchi water and beef stock, but this recipe is a vegetarian friendly twist that highlights cherry tomatoes!

Small, sweet cherry tomatoes are salted and soaked in an umami-packed ‘dashi’ made from soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic mustard and sesame oil.

The result is a savory bowl of noodles that tastes just like it came from the garden.

cherry-tomatoes-grown-indoors-hydroponic-tower-lettuce-grow-farmstand

harvesting-red-cherry-tomatoes-off-lettuce-grow-farmstand

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I grew tons of cherry tomatoes in my indoor tower garden

Chilled Noodles

Somen is the traditional noodle of choice for nangmyeon, but you can use soba or any spaghetti-like pasta you have on hand!

Just note – Asian noodles, especially thin Japanese white noodles like somen, take very little time to cook.

I like to salt my tomatoes and make the sauce mixture first. While that sits, I bring water to a boil and then cook the somen, so I have time to watch it and don’t get distracted.

Somen only needs 3-4 minutes to fully cook.

They also already contain salt, so there’s no need to salt the cooking water. After 3-4 minutes, drain the noodles and rinse well under cold water to stop the cooking process.

This dish works best with chewy, firm somen as opposed to overcook, limp noodles!

how-to-make-nangmyeon-korean-cold-noodles

tomato-cold-noodles-with-radish-and-sesame-seeds

somen noodles are my favorite, but you can use soba, capellini or any thin spaghetti-like pasta

Toppings

Top these cold noodles with whatever you like – I went with rainbow radishes, green onion and sesame seeds.

Using a mandolin slicer gets you extra thin radish slices!

Cucumbers and hard boiled eggs are also popular toppings. You can thinly julienne some persian cucumbers and top them in the center of the chilled noodles.

Or for extra protein, toss in some grilled shrimp!

nangmyun-cold-noodles-in-tomato-broth-recipe

I topped it with rainbow radish (the purple and pink slices look so pretty together!), scallions and sesame seeds

Cold Noodles with Tomato Recipe