Cooking for One - Japanese Cold Noodles with the Best In Season Cherry Tomatoes Plus a Touch of Lemon

This recipe calls for the best in season tomatoes with little seasonings to brighten up the flavors. The ingredients used makes one big portion. However, you can simply double or even quadruple the amount if cooking for multiple people.

Japanese cold noodles with cherry tomatoes plus a touch of lemon -

Ingredients (for one, double the amount if cooking for two)?

• Some plain thin while noodles or soba
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 10 to 12 cilantro leaves
• 1/2 yellow lemon
• 1/4 cup of tsuyu/soup base (I used two times concentrated version)
• 1/4 cup of boiled water
• Some white toasted sesame seeds (optional)
• Some small orchid for garnish (optional)

How?

Halve the tomatoes. Pick out only the cilantro leaves since stems are not needed for this recipe. Zest half of the lemon first then squeeze 1/2 lemon juice into a container.

Pour in the tsuyu and water into the lemon juice container. Stir a little and give it a quick taste, see if more seasoning is needed based on personal preference. This simple base should cover the saltiness and sourish tastes for the cold noodles. The sweetness part comes from the ripe cherry tomatoes.

Cook the noodles according to the packaging instruction. Once done, drain well and soak in ice cold water to quickly stop the cooking process. Drain again when the noodles are completely cool down.

Transfer the seasoning base to the serving bowl and carefully add in the noodles. Mix well, arrange halved tomatoes and cilantro leaves throughout. Sprinkle with lemon zest and optional white sesame seeds. Lastly, beautify the noodles with some small pretty flowers. 

I know the flowers might not be edible in most cases and there's no point putting something unrelated as a garnish. Buy hey, the flowers not only brightens up the visual but also the gloomy mood, might work even better than the food itself!