Cool noodles By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

Fresh but filling, these cold-noodle Asian salads are perfect for picnic or patio.

Japanese Cold Noodle "Chef Salad"
Photography by Yvonne Duivenvoorden

During the warm days of spring and summer, Asian cold noodle dishes are our favourite pasta salads -- especially appealing. Refreshing and filling, they are whole meals on a plate with contrasting textures and Asian flavours, balancing sweet, tart, savoury and spicy to great effect. Our selection of easy-to-make cold noodle dishes are inspired by the cuisines of China, Japan and Vietnam. The Asian noodles in our recipes can be found at Asian grocery stores and many supermarkets.

Asian noodles and substitutions

• Buckwheat noodles (Soba): Thin, flat Japanese noodles, buckwheat noodles are made from buckwheat and wheat flours. Because of the low-gluten buckwheat, they puff up to almost round during cooking. Recipes calling for buckwheat noodles can also be made with chasoba, thin green noodles flavoured with green tea powder.
Substitute Japanese thin wheat noodles (somen), pasta vermicelli or thin spinach linguine.

• Rice noodles (rice sticks, rice vermicelli): Made from rice flour, these are popular Southern Chinese and Southeast Asian noodles. Rice sticks, which come in varying widths, are used in soups, are fried and are featured in many cold noodle dishes, especially in Vietnam. For cold noodle dishes, the best are the medium and thin widths, as well as the thinnest, rice vermicelli. They are generally available at grocery stores and an even larger variety of Asian food stores.
Substitute spaghettini or thin linguine.

• Wheat noodles: Vastly popular throughout China and Japan, wheat noodles are made of hard wheat flour and water, like pasta. Chinese and Japanese wheat noodles (called ramen) are white and most often flat.
Substitute any long pasta noodle, such as fettuccine, linguine, spaghettini and spaghetti.