Noodle and spinach salad

Serves 4, vegan
This recipe contains the ever so addictive Ponzu dressing which once you have tasted it will want to use on every salad you make. There are many recipes for ponzu out there but I think this combination works very well for this dish. Try this as a light summer lunch The dressing will last a long time in the fridge so make more than you need.
Ingredients 200g (7oz) cooked soba noodles 4 handfuls of baby spinach 4 handfuls of rocket (arugula, rucola) 1 small red onion Ponzu dressing 3 tbsp mirin 2 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tbsp soy sauce Juice of 1 lime 1 teaspoon sugar The addition of a little sesame oil is tasty also	Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the noodles for 4 minutes. Cool under cold running water to quickly halt the cooking process and drain. Place the salad ingredients into a large bowl and dress with the ponzu dressing. Serve immediately.

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Rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar is made from fermented rice or rice wine. The Japanese variety is colourless to light yellow and slightly milder and less acidic than Western varieties of wine vinegar. You can use Clear Chinese rice vinegar instead. On many occasions, when I have run out of rice vinegar, I have used white wine vinegar.
Soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour. As the buckwheat doesn't contain much gluten the buckwheat is usually mixed with a quantity of wheat flour. To be called soba they have to contain at least 35% buckwheat.
Mirin is a sweetened sake with a similar taste to a sweet sherry. It is used a lot in Japanese cooking and used in many recipes in this book so it is worth seeking out a bottle. Lots of supermarkets now stock mirin and you will more than likely find it in your local Asian grocer. It can be quite expensive but no more than a good sherry.