Jason Hawker, executive sous chef at Redsalt, Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley

This healthy noodle salad is perfect for a light lunch or as a side dish to bring to the next family barbecue. It’s packed with seven types of vegetables which not only make it nutritious and delicious, it also adds a pop of colour to the table. You can try this on our menu, it’s by far one of our most popular salad items.

Wash all your vegetables under cold running water for 10 minutes to make them crisp, then strain.

Makes 10 portions

Dressing

10g Dijon mustard

150g rice wine vinegar

150g soy sauce

50g Mirin

70g peeled ginger

20g garlic

75g sesame oil

300g grape seed oil

Vegetables

1 cucumber (de-seeded and finely cut)   

2 red onions (finely sliced and washed under running water for 20 minutes)

5 stalks shallots (sliced in rings and washed for 10 minutes)

Edamame beans (from Asian grocery)

Sugarsnap peas (finely sliced and with tips removed)

Red lettuce leaves (red coral or red bulls blood leaves torn in small pieces)

Red radishes thinly sliced and washes

Soba noodles

800g green tea soba or regular soba noodles (boil for 4 minutes, strain and coat with sesame oil)

Chicken teriyaki

1kg chicken tenders

300ml Teriyaki glaze (Asian grocery)

Garnish

100g black sesame seeds

Dressing

1. Add all ingredients into a high-speed blender and blend until the dressing is smooth.  

Teriyaki chicken

1. Pan fry chicken tenders in a small amount of vegetable oil with a pinch of salt turning every 2 minutes until cooked through. 

2. Cut your chicken pieces in half and coat in Teriyaki glaze in the pan.

Noodles  

1. Take 100g of cooked soba noodles per portion, add some of each vegetable into a bowl and using tongs, mix in 6 tablespoons of dressing.

2. Once well mixed, the noodle salad is ready to plate up. Try your best to give the salad some height. Place your Teriyaki chicken strips up against the noodles.  

3. Finish with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds

With views across the scenic Hunter Valley Golf 18-hole course, swimming pool and vineyard surrounds, Redsalt is Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley’s signature restaurant.

For breakfast, wake up to a hearty buffet, a fresh juice station, a range of hot and cold dishes, eggs made to order and plenty of gluten-free options.

For dinner, indulge in main courses based on the region’s freshest produce and an extensive list of wines sourced locally, nationally and from all over the globe. 

The Lovedale is a bar and a restaurant. And it has Sydney Brewery Hunter Valley right next door. Don’t forget to try one of the brewery’s crafty creations, including the award winning Lovedale Lager.

Jason Hawker leads the resort’s kitchen team and is the primary creative force behind the menus at Redsalt Restaurant and Lovedale Bar and Restaurant.

 He likes to create and serve hearty home-style meals that evoke warmth and are influenced by his travels, his work abroad and time spent with his family.