Spicy Japanese Crab Noodle Salad

This is a cold noodle salad with crab, bean sprouts, red bell pepper, and cucumber in a spicy chile dressing. If you want to make it more substantial, you can add some squid rings.

• Preparation Time: 25 mins
• Cooking Time: 8 mins
• Total Time: 33 mins
• Calories: 465 Calories

Ingredients

• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 ½ teaspoons sesame oil
• ½ red bell pepper, sliced into rings
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• ½ cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, or more to taste
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1 ½ teaspoons mirin (Japanese rice wine)
• 1 teaspoon Chinese chili bean sauce (doubanjiang), or more to taste
• 4 ounces instant ramen noodles (without flavor packet)
• 4 ounces cooked octopus, cut into bite-sized pieces (Optional)
• 2 ounces cooked crab meat, broken up
• 2 ounces bean sprouts
• 1 tablespoon toasted nori (seaweed), crumbled, or more to taste

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Mix red wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sesame oil, chili bean sauce, and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl to make dressing. Season with salt.

Step 2

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Cook instant noodles until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.

Step 3

Mix octopus, cucumber, red bell pepper, crab meat, bean sprouts, and scallions with noodles. Add dressing and mix to combine. Divide among serving plates and top with crumbled nori.