Meera Sodha's vegan recipe for sweetcorn hiyashi
If you have fresh corn cobs, boil them for five minutes, then drain, cool in cold water and slice the kernels off the cob.
Prep 10 minCook 35 min
Serves 4
8 spring onions (100g), trimmed and washed thoroughly8 tbsp good-quality neutral oil – I like rapeseed oil2½ tsp light soy sauce, plus 1 tbsp extra for the sweetcorn sauce2 tsp white-wine vinegar
200g sweetcorn kernels, fresh (see introduction) or frozen1½ tbsp white miso1 garlic clove, peeled2cm x 2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped300g dried ramen or soba noodles
½ large cucumber (180g), cut in half widthways, then finely shredded100g cherry tomatoes, halved250g smoked tofu, cut into batons20g basil leaves, roughly torn
Put the spring onions on a board and chop, chop, chop the greens and whites, running the knife over them over and over again to turn them into tiny fragments. Scrape the chopped onions into a bowl, add four tablespoons of the oil, two and a half teaspoons of soy sauce and the white-wine vinegar, then put to one side.
Put three quarters (150g) of the sweetcorn kernels in a blender, add the miso, garlic, ginger, the extra tablespoon of soy sauce, the remaining four tablespoons of oil and 100ml water, and blitz: you'll need to blend it for quite a while to break down the fibre of the sweetcorn.
Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, then drain and rinse under the cold tap until cool. Drain really well, then put in a bowl, add the spring onion mix and toss very well to coat.
Distribute the noodles between four plates or shallow bowls. Spoon a quarter of the sweetcorn sauce to one side of each portion, and next to it arrange a quarter of the cucumber, tomatoes, smoked tofu and the reserved whole corn kernels. Scatter over the torn basil leaves and eat.
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