Cold Hiyashi Soba Salad with Tempura

 I can't say that I remember ever cooking soba / buckwheat noodles before.  I've eaten it in Japan, in a Sobaya (restaurant that specializes in those noodles), but haven't bought any to fix at home.  When I went looking, I noticed that many brands have wheat flour as the first ingredient.  The one I ended up purchasing had more buckwheat flour, but still not 100%.  If that exists, it's not around here.

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

All of which meant that I would be sourcing and cooking buckwheat noodles for a cold salad, and making tempura.  I have prepared Tempura, in the distant past, though nowadays I generally avoid deep fried foods.  But  exceptions to rules may be made in the interest of learning new techniques.

I decided to use only vegetables: pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant and mushrooms for the tempura.  The Hiyashi Soba had cooked chicken and slivers of omelet, so we were well covered for protein.  I think little cubes of marinated tofu would go nicely on top of the salad as well, for vegetarians, or anyone really.