Japanese
Poached Egg and Mentaiko Udon
Here’s one for the grown-ups. In Japan, we usually don’t drink sake or beer without a salty or spicy dish to tickle the palate. This udon is both salty and spicy, and is a perfect complement to your favorite beverage. The poached egg yolk in the dish adds a satisfying richness to the broth.
Niku Udon
In Japan, this udon is a rich and comforting wintertime favorite, and it is especially popular with young people. And not only in Japan. Here in Chicago, it’s one of my son’s favorites. He plays ice hockey in school, and when he comes home after practice he’s ravenous. Niku udon to the rescue, every time.
Yaki Udon
This dish is perfect for anyone with a hearty appetite. In Japan, it’s especially popular with teenagers, who devour large plates of these satisfying and filling fried noodles. Yaki udon is also a staple of Japan’s izakaya, or eating pubs, especially as a late night snack or complement to a frosty mug of beer. This recipe works best in servings of two. If you’d like to make it for four people, just prepare the dish in two batches.
Egg Drop and Crab Nabeyaki Udon
Winter is the best season to enjoy this dish, when crab is at its most flavorful. I love serving these noodles in individual clay pots, which are such an intimate and satisfying way to enjoy a meal. These vessels become very hot when you cook in them, though, so be careful when you remove them from the burners. If you don’t have a clay pot, you can use other vessels, too. (See the discussion on clay pots in the recipce for Somen in a Clay Pot with Chicken and Eggplant, page 90, for more information.) Timing is very important for this dish to cook correctly, so make sure you have your game plan ready before you start.
Spicy Eggplant Ja-Ja-Men Udon
Everyone in Japan knows ja-ja-men, with its spicy miso and garlicky flavors. Think of it as the Japanese version of spaghetti and Bolognese sauce, a favorite at home and casual restaurants. This may sound counterintultive, but I love eating this dish on a hot summer day—its spices reenergize me.
Kitsune Udon
My kids can’t get enough of the savory and sweet flavor of this dish, which makes me smile because I still remember the moment I first tasted kitsune udon—in elementary school. Back in Japan, my grade school served meals to its students, and these noodles were one of my favorite lunchtime treats. I know both you and your kids will love them, too: they’re easy to prepare and the sweet and tangy flavor lasts and lasts.
Su Udon
Su means “plain” in Japanese, which is how this dish got its name. But plain doesn’t mean boring—this is a simple and light dish that I love when I want to enjoy the chewy texture of udon noodles without eating anything too heavy. Wakame is a nutritious seaweed that’s found in many Japanese dishes. You can include spinach in this recipe, too, if you’d like. Just quickly blanch the spinach in boiling water, cool in an ice bath, and drain before adding to the individual bowls.
Curry Udon
Japanese curry? Actually, curry has been a part of Japanese cuisine for more than a hundred years. The Japanese navy adopted it in the nineteenth century from their British counterparts, who ate it on ships. Soon, eating curry on Friday became a Japanese naval tradition. And not just for sailors. Japanese citizens fell in love with curry, too, especially kids. I should know—I was one of them. When I was growing up, I was crazy about curry. Now my own kids adore it, especially in this dish. You can use any cut of beef that you like. If you want to go upscale, try rib eye, but even beef scraps work just fine.
Wakame Soba
Loaded with nutrients, wakame has been an important part of the Japanese diet for centuries. And besides being good for you, it has a wonderful flavor that’s both briny and sweet. I love this seaweed and eat a ton of it. Wakame is also very convenient: because it’s dried, it can be stored for months, but it takes only minutes to reconstitute. This quick and easy soba dish is a delicious way to introduce this versatile ingredient to American cooks, especially when paired with fresh snow peas and tangy onions. Give it a try; I know you’ll love wakame as much as I do.
Tororo Soba
This summer recipe centers on a versatile ingredient that’s beloved in Japan but almost unknown here, one that I know you’ll enjoy. It’s called yamaimo, or mountain yam. This root has a nice, fresh taste, with a delicately sweet, nutty flavor and lots of umami, or sense of savoriness. The most popular variety, which you can find in Asian markets, looks like a tan-colored baton. Peel the skin and grate its white flesh. Raw yamaimo has a liquidy, slippery texture that might take getting used to, but it pairs beautifully with the toothsome soba in this dish. I’ve also added okra, a cooling Southern favorite that’s very popular in Japan.
Udon Broth
While the underlying dashi is the same, udon broth is not as strongly flavored as soba broth because these wheat flour noodles absorb liquid easier than do the hard buckwheat of soba. You can freeze this broth for up to a month or keep in the refrigerator for up to a week and use for a number of dishes, which is what we do at my home because my family is crazy for udon!
Tempura Soba
Tempura soba is a delicious and satisfying lunchtime favorite in Japan, served both at home and in restaurants across the country. Tempura has a long history in the country. The cooking method was introduced by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and has been refined into a uniquely Japanese food ever since. Make sure you eat this dish quickly, while the soba is still steaming and the tempura is hot and crispy. The way we enjoy this dish in Japan is to dip the tempura into the soba broth as we eat it. This serves two purposes: First, the broth flavors the tempura, acting as a dipping sauce. And second, the tempura returns the favor, adding richness to the broth while its crumbs add texture. So we have both foods working together to create an irresistible whole!
Tempura Shrimp-Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms with Soba
Zucchini blossoms are an ingredient that always catches my eye in the early summertime, especially at the farmers’ markets here in my hometown of Chicago. They inspired me to come up with this recipe, my own interpretation of the classic stuffed zucchini blossoms of both Italian and Japanese cuisines. In this dish, I stuff the flowers with onion and shrimp, then fry them as tempura, a combination of flavors and textures that complements the toothsome soba.
Soba Sushi Two Ways
I still remember the first time I tasted this dish as a child, when my parents took me to a famous shrine near my hometown. Soba sushi was the signature dish there, and restaurants near the shrine served it for lunch. This recipe makes two kinds of soba sushi: soba rolls and abura-age sushi. It has a lot of steps, but don’t worry, it’s not very complicated. The result is worth it: delicious finger food with layers of flavor and texture. Kampyo, the dried squash in the soba rolls, is a traditional ingredient with a delicate sweetness that you can find in Asian markets. Marinated abura-age is deep-fried tofu that opens up like pocket bread. Soba sushi is a perfect appetizer or party treat that will wow your guests. This dish also travels well, so you can add it to a lunchbox or picnic basket. You can also prepare this recipe up to a day ahead of serving. Just be sure to wrap it well and store in the refrigerator before serving.
Soba Gnocchi with Scallops and Celery Root Foam
This soba gnocchi is one of the most popular dishes at my Chicago restaurant, Takashi. My customers love it and often ask me how to prepare it at home. Well, here’s the answer! The recipe is a little challenging, but I guarantee you it will more than impress the guests at your next dinner party. You can prepare the gnocchi in advance, and even freeze it (be sure to coat the gnocchi with vegetable oil before refrigerating or freezing). You can also prepare the celery root sauce ahead of time. And like the gnocchi, you can freeze it, too.
Natto Soba
My hometown of Mito is known throughout Japan as “Natto City” in recognition of our devotion to these fermented soybeans. Natto has a wonderful nutty flavor and aroma, and I’ve loved it since I was a kid. Serving it with soba is a terrific introduction to this nutritious and ancient naturally preserved ingredient. When you open a packet of natto, the beans will be sticky and thready, but don’t let that put you off. This dish makes a beautiful presentation when it’s served. Just make sure you mix together all the ingredients very well before you eat to combine the flavors.
Duck Nanban Soba
This dish packs flavor with history. Take the word nanban, which refers to foreign influence in Japanese cooking. But duck is native to Japan, so what’s so foreign here? Back in the seventh century, the emperor issued a decree forbidding meat, and the country followed a Buddhist diet of fish and vegetables for more than a thousand years. Once Japanese started eating meat again in the nineteenth century, they called dishes like duck soba nanban—duck is something a foreigner would eat. It’s a convention that continues to this day.
Kaki-Age Soba
Kaki-age is a kind of tempura where a variety of ingredients are mixed with batter and deep-fried. The result is a delicious tempura patty that is paired here with soba and hot broth for a wonderful play of flavors and textures. You’ll experience a progression of tastes as you enjoy this dish: a crispy and crunchy patty at first, then the broth infusing it more and more, all the while, the tasty tempura crumbs enhancing the broth.
Dashi
Here is my standard dashi recipe. The kelp is loaded with savoriness, a taste we call “umami” in Japan. This recipe is for 2 quarts of dashi, but you can easily double the quantities and freeze leftovers for up to 2 months.
Cold Soba
This dish looks simple to prepare, but in Japan it’s the ultimate test for a soba chef. Why? To put it simply, the chef has nowhere to hide. Because this dish is just broth and noodles, a soba master has to prepare both perfectly. In fact, tasting cold soba is the way we judge the quality of a good soba restaurant. At home, of course, it’s a different story. Japanese love preparing this quick, refreshing dish in the summer. The aromatic garnishes are classics that nicely accent the toothsome noodles. Just don’t worry about cooking it “perfectly”—leave that to the soba chefs.