Chicken and Soba Noodle Salad with Red Curry-Almond Dressing

This cold soba salad is reminiscent of peanut sesame noodles, but with a few key swaps. Its flavor is more lively, surprising, nutty, and spicy. Instead of peanut butter, this salad dressing uses almond butter, which has great texture and savory roastiness that can evade some peanut butters. Paired with red curry paste, it tastes like you added a whole bunch of ingredients, when you really just stirred two together with some water.

Red curry paste is a jarred mix of red chiles, lemongrass, garlic, lime, and other aromatics and is typically used as the base of Thai curries, stir-fries, and soups. It’s incredibly fragrant and flavorful in salad dressing, too. Here, the red curry-almond dressing coats nutty buckwheat soba noodles and whatever chicken you have around (leftover thighs from dinner, shredded rotisserie, etc.) — although steak, salmon, or tofu would also be good.

Because of the spice and earthiness of the noodles and dressing, you might seek some sweetness, which is where the carrots come in. They’re shaved into long ribbons to mimic the noodles. As you shave the carrots lengthwise with a vegetable peeler, you’ll eventually only be left with a little carrot that’ll be hard to shave. You can chop that part up and add it to the salad, or keep it as the chef’s snack.