cold acorn noodles + autumn vegetables

Acorn noodles which in Korean are called Dotori Guksu (도토리국수), are made from acorn flour, salt and buckwheat. This recipe was inspired by a dish my mum has prepared. Served cold, I used some seasonal autumn vegetables for garnish and though you can substitute any seafood or thinly sliced chicken or beef tenders on top, I used firm, cubed tofu. oyster sauce with yellow mustard gives a nice kick to the seasoning of the noodles.

Serving Size : 2

Ingredients
-Autumn vegetables
     4 oz (handful) organic shredded carrots
     1/2 of whole yellow Hothouse bell pepper
     1/2 head of red cabbage
     Enoki mushrooms
     1-2 Kirby cucumbers 
     1/2 package of extra firm tofu
     Burdock root (already prepared, found in Asian grocery store)
-8 oz acorn noodles
-Sauce
     3 tbs oyster sauce
     3 tbs rice wine vinegar
     2 tbs sesame seed oil
     1 tbs sugar
     1 tbs Japanese yellow mustard
-3 tbs soy sauce
-Roasted sesame seeds


Mise en place 
Thinly slice the following vegetables

red cabbage, carrots, yellow bell pepper

burdock root, enoki mushrooms,
kirby cucumbers


Cube extra firm tofu* and sautee lightly in a pan with the soy sauce 

extra firm tofu


Main
Place the acorn noodles in a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes
Rinse in cold water
Plate in a white serving platter

acorn noodles, boil in hot water, rinse in cold water

twirl noodles, plate on platter

Sauce
Combine the oyster sauce and rice wine vinegar
Add the Japanese yellow mustard little by little depending on intensity of heat you want
Put aside sesame seed oil for later

[top left clockwise] rice wine vinegar, sesame
seed oil, yellow mustard, oyster sauce 

Plating
Present on a white platter as the colors will be more defined
Alternate the julienne vegetables around the circumference of noodles
Place the sliced burdock root on top and the cubed tofu



burdock root, detail of arranged mise en place, plating arrangement


Garnish Drizzle sauce over the dish
Garnish with toasted sesame seeds



roasted sesame seeds as garnish, final dish



Pairing
**Kooksoondang (국순당) draught makkoli


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*Can substitute tofu for beef/chicken tenders
**An upcoming post will detail the origins and what makkoli (막걸리) is