ZARUSOBA

ZARUSOBA

#SIAintheKitchen

I don’t think there is an easier dish to make than zarusoba. Seriously. Soba noodles + metsuyu? Done.

I always have a package of soba noodles at my house. They are a great noodle with most sauces and soups. Going back to its traditional roots, zarusoba is often eating during the hot summer months. If you have ever experienced a summer in Japan, you’ll know that the temperatures rise pretty quickly over there and it can be uncomfortably hot and muggy.

In an effort to cool down, the Japanese will eat chilled soba noodles with a cold dipping sauce: metsuyuu. Metsuyu is a mixture of sake, soy sauce, dashi and mirin - savoury, smoky and sweet. It’s such an addicting sauce that I like to drink all of it at the end of the meal. It is really salty so before sure to dilute it with some of the starchy soba water to make it drinkable.

Feel free to simply garnish the zarusoba with roasted nori strips, sesame seeds and togarashi.

Please note that this recipe makes a good amount of metsuyu which you can store in the fridge, sealed, for few weeks.

ZARUSOBA - serves 4 (metsuyu recipe adapted from Just One Cookbook)

Mentsuyu

• 1 cup soy sauce

• 1 cup water

• 2 tsps dashi powder

• 1 cup mirin

• 1/2 cup sake

Soba

• 400g dried buckwheat soba noodles

• roasted nori, cut into strips

• toasted sesame seeds

• togarashi

• To make the metsuyu, combine all of the ingredients for it together (soy, sake, mirin, dashi, powder, water) and heat over medium-high. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

• Cook the soba noodles until al dente. Strain the soba noodles in a sieve and reserve the water it was cooked in.

• To serve, divide the noodles into 4 bowls and the metsuyu into 4 small dipping bowls. Transfer the soba water to a teapot and leave on the side in case you would like to dilute your metsuyu in order to drink it. Garnish the soba with nori, sesame seeds and togarashi.