Sweetcorn Hiyashi

 

With the hot summer weather that the U.K. has been experiencing of late Meera Sodha's recipe for sweetcorn hiyashi in the Guardian was a welcome dish to try.  The dish was based on Hiyashi Chūka which literally means 'chilled Chinese' and is one of those odd Chinese-Japanese fusions.  Apparently th dish was invented in 1937 by the Chinese Restaurant Ryutei in Sendai which was an adaptation of the Shanghainese dish liangbanmian. Typically the dish consists of chilled noodles topped with summer vegetables of cucumber and tomato, a tare sauce (a sauce made from soy sauce, mirin, sake, vinegar, garlic, spring onions, ginger and black peppercorns), and usually meat toppings and shredded omelette... Meera Sodha's vegan version was with tofu and sweetcorn still hit the spot as it provided a cooling effect for the blistering hot days.  I left out the tomato as it is not my favourite and did not have so much of the sweetcorn as it was far too sweet for me but the recipe seemed useful to riff on.