Get into the mood for the Tokyo Olympics!

Tokyo Olympics is finally here! Have you guys seen the new sports categories? Pretty cool if you ask me. Apart from watching the actual games, thanks to Tiktok it gave us a chance to see more behind the scenes experiences of the athletes during the Olympics, which is cool! I mean let’s talk about their cardboard beds! Who would have thought of that? The beds were planned as one of the Tokyo Olympics recycling initiatives. As a large-scale event, Tokyo Olympics aims to promote sustainability. Their Medals and trays, podium for the Olympics and Paralympic athletes and the costumes of the medal tray bearers and athlete escorts are all made of recycled materials! So, that is one interesting fact about the Tokyo Olympics.

Are you watching it with the family? Any plans for the special event? Why not have a mini celebration set up at home? We tried cooking a Japanese meal to get into the mood for the Tokyo Olympics and here’s what we have to say about it!

First off, we are no experts BUT that is not stopping us from having our Japanese inspired meal. And before you ask…. No, this is not takeaway from a Japanese restaurant.  This is all home cooked! Though maybe there is 1 ready-made product but let’s ignore that. For today’s menu, we decided to cook a Soba Noodle Salad paired with Miso Soup and oh my gosh!! I was so surprised to how easy it was. Definitely worth the try. It took about 15 to 20 minutes to make the Soba Noodle Salad. All we had to do was mix the dressing and boil the noodle. Piece of cake.

To start off, we gathered all the ingredients then moved on to preparing the dressing. Once done, we cooked the soba! Pretty straight forward, it’s just like how you boil any other pasta. In case you’re wondering what is that tiny man doing on the pot, it is a pasta tester which also serves as a steam releaser. But for this, we’ll be using it as a pasta tester. Super useful if you ask me! I don’t have to struggle to scoop out a strand of noodle to test if its ready, all I have do is leave one strand (as shown on the picture) and I’ll be able to tell if its ready then.

Next, we drained the soba. Don’t forget to rinse it with cold water to remove the starch from the soba noodles. Sidenote: how cute is the strainer? This product comes in a family pack. It consists of a Mamma Nessie Colander, a Nessie Ladle, and a Baby Nessie tea infuse. Cool!

Lastly, we combined the soba noodles, dressing, green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds in the bowl. Tossed everything together then transferred it to a serving bowl. And there you have it, the Soba Noodle Salad. I’d give this recipe a 8/10.

Next is the miso soup. Okay we kind of cheated a little for this one because we used the ready-made miso soup. This took about 5-10 minutes to prepare. All we had to do was boil the water, mix in the miso mix, seaweed and tofu. Let it simmer for a bit and ta-da, you’re done!

And there you have it, a very easy Japanese inspired meal which took less than 40 minutes to prepare. Perfect for those craving Japanese but can’t really cook (a.k.a us) or for someone who just wants a quick and easy recipe. Honestly, I’d rate this a 9/10. It’s not because we prepared it (okay maybe a little) but it’s a really good meal that is done in less than 40mins. To complete the meal, we had a Hokkaido Vanilla and Matcha crepe cake for dessert. If you have a little more time in your meal prep, you can add more side dishes too but that is totally up to you!

Now it’s time for you guys let us know what you think! Feel free to tag us on Instagram. We’d love to see your own version of a Japanese meal! Enjoy the weekend and the Olympics!