Sweet potato noodles salad with sesame dressing

For this week's Hive top Chef the theme is "Sesame seeds/oil".

I could put sesame seeds on almost anything. They are versatile being used in both savoury and sweet dishes. They are also consumed in many different cultures.

I usually think savoury and Asian when it comes to sesame seeds so I have prepared a dish that is kind of Asian fusion with items used in different Asian countries. It's kind of a mixed bag.

I've decided to use sweet potato noodles for a salad instead of hot as I usually do. I will add tofu and eggplant that will be hot. The dressing is my take on Japanese sesame dressing.

For this I start by grinding toasted sesame seeds in a blender as fine as possible.

Some people may wonder why I wouldn't use tahini/sesame paste, but the flavors actually come across differently from one another. This is the flavor I wanted.

Sesame dressing
1 cup ground sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon miso paste
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
Water for mixing in the blender

Mix all ingredients together in a blender until desired consistency.

This was quite thick but I took a small amount and thinned it out with a little cider vinegar and lime juice along with a little water and adjusted the seasoning. I used the thinner dressing for the salad items. The thicker dressing was used to coat the noodles.

I used a package of sweet potato noodles that would fill around 2 litres. When cooking them they should boil for around 7 or 8 minutes or to your liking. They don't get overcooked fast like rice noodles do.

When they are done, drain and cool. I tossed them with oil to keep them from sticking.

To add to the noodles I chose some vegetables that I had in the fridge. These got pan cooked and added to the noodles.

I kept the eggplant aside to fry and serve warm on the salad.

To cook with the greens mushrooms and carrots, I added onion, garlic, chili, thai basi and ginger.

For the other hot item to accompany the eggplant I chose tofu.

I tossed the tofu in flour, salt, onion powder, and pepper before I shallow fried it.

When they were browned I splashed some rice wine to pan, than a little tamari/soy sauce.

For the eggplant I coated the slices in the same mixture as the tofu.

These were just fried until brown. I didn't add anything else to them because they are softer and would absorb the dressing better.

After I sauteed the other vegetables I cooled them along with the noodles.

Sweet potato noodles salad items
2 eggplant
A handful of Asian greens (I don't know the name of these)
4 king oyster mushrooms
1 carrot
1 small onion
A handful of coriander
Chilies(optional)
A few basil leaves
Small piece of ginger
3 or 4 cloves garlic
Brick of tofu
Rice wine vinegar for the tofu
Splash of tamari/soy sauce for the tofu
1 cup flour, salt, onion powder and pepper to coat the tofu and eggplant.

Toss the cold noodles with the cold veggies.

Add desired amount of dressing to coat the noodles. I most of the dressing. adjusting the seasonings at the end with more lime juice, cider vinegar, salt and sesame oil.