Soba Noodles

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Rinse the bok choy, carrots, and scallions. Trim the bok choy and slice it crosswise into ribbons. Peel the carrots and slice them crosswise into coins. Trim and chop the scallions; reserve. Peel and chop the ginger and enough garlic to measure a scant teaspoon.

Put the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the ginger and garlic and cook, stirring frequently until they’re fragrant, 1 to 3 minutes; add 1/8 teaspoon chile flakes (you’ll have extra), stir once, and then add the bok choy and carrots. Stir once again and remove the pan from the heat.

Add the noodles to the boiling water. Start tasting them after 3 minutes; they should be tender but not mushy. Remove about 1 cup of the cooking water and reserve. When the noodles are done, drain them into a colander and toss with the sesame oil. Return the skillet to the heat, add 1⁄4 cup reserved cooking water, and stir to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook the vegetables, adding a little more of the cooking water if necessary to prevent them from burning, until the bok choy is bright green, 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the noodles, tamari, and edamame and cook, stirring and adding just enough cooking water to keep everything from sticking, until the noodles are hot, no more than 1 minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding some salt, pepper, and chile flakes if you’d like. Garnish with the scallions and serve hot or at room temperature.