Kiwi, Korean and Japanese influences all paid a part in the creating of this dish.

I had been on a bit of a Korean gochuchang binge anyway, loving its umami bite. And I wanted some soba. I had a bit of a hankering for my time spent living in Japan- truth be told. And with steaming hot days, cold soba is such a great dish. It is also gluten-free as it is made from buckwheat (which is not a wheat at all, but  is actually related to rhubarb). And then there was the New Zealand salmon. Honestly the best salmon in the world by far (and I am not saying that because I am a Kiwi- scientists have proved that it is the healthiest salmon out there), and we know it is the tastiest.

So with these things fermenting in my head, and with guests to feed for lunch, I came up with the following recipe.

I usually like my salmon oven baked or raw, but this time I cubed it and steamed it in a bamboo steamer.

Meanwhile I sliced up raw vegetables that I had to hand. The red cabbage contrasted well with the spring onions, carrots and coriander.

The dressing was a mix of gochughang, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil and seeds. The black sesame add a wonderful colour and taste.

To cook the soba you really need to follow Japanese tradition and as soon as it comes back to the boil after being added to the water, throw in a cup of cold water. Then bring that back to the boil. Repeat and the soba  is cooked. Then it is important to drain them and rinse them well in cold water so that they stay separate and don't go gluggy.

To assemble it all, put the soba in individual serving bowls. Add some of each of the finely sliced vegetables on top of the soba. Gently mix the salmon through the dressing and then layer this on top.

Sprinkle more sesame seeds on top if you like, mix everything together in your bowl, and then like all good noodle dishes, slurp away.

Here are the rough measurements for this KKJ Creation. Serves 3-4.

50mls gochuchang

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (white or black or both)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ginger minced

400gm salmon, cubed

1 packet buckwheat noodles

finely sliced raw vegetables like carrots, cabbage, coriander, spring onion, zucchini, etc