PETALING JAYA, March 15 — One of my favourite Japanese noodle dishes is soba or buckwheat noodles. You can either eat soba hot or cold, depending on the weather. Hot soba is perfect for rainy nights and it goes well with a warm cup of green tea. It also gives me a reason to take out the aesthetically pleasing Japanese cups and bowls!
Even in our Chinese culture, noodles are always associated with longevity, so we tend to slurp up all the goodness for the entire year. For those who feel that noodles have too much carbohydrates (fattening!), don’t worry because of all the Japanese noodles such as ramen, udon and soba, soba is the least you have to worry about with its buckwheat content that is healthier.
If you shop at Japanese supermarkets in Malaysia, you will notice a lot of pre-packaged products. In a world of immediacy and instantaneous action and reaction, it is considered normal to eat a cup of instant noodles while working at your table. But fret not! This simplified soba noodle dish is for lazy as well as busy people.
There were some kitchen mishaps, I must confess but it was due to over confidence. An acquaintance used to call this situation ‘kan cheong kitchen’ where you are doing multiple things at once: making the broth while boiling water for the noodles and then frying the egg on another stove, making tea at the same time and for this instance, taking photos to document this guide.
This is my first attempt so be kind! I actually killed four eggs in the production of this recipe and I feel very bad about that. The first egg looked gorgeous but when I lifted it up to put it on the noodles, the egg yolk started running. That happened to the second egg too. The next two eggs were onsen tamago attempts that was undercooked. Yes, I overestimated the eggs because I had a ‘kan cheong kitchen’ moment. Usually when I make an Indomie goreng at home
, the sunny side ups are sunny side ups. For the soba noodles, they lost their sunniness, so in memory of the four eggs, I shall teach you how to make the soba noodles, without the eggs!
Ingredients
1 1/2 litres filtered water
1 packet dashi powder
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 teaspoon salt
1 serving soba noodles
1 packet bonito flakes
1 packet seasoned seaweed
Chopped spring onion for garnishing (optional)
Egg (optional)
Method
1. Boil 500ml filtered water in a pot. When the water starts to simmer, add in the packet of dashi powder. Remove the packet from the pot when the broth reaches boiling point and discard.
2. Add soy sauce and mirin to the dashi broth. Stir it in while keeping the pot on the stove on low heat.
3. Start boiling the remaining filtered water in another pot. Add salt. Once the water reaches boiling point, add the soba noodles and cook according to the time prescribed in the packet.
4. After the soba noodles are cooked, drain the noodles using a strainer. Rinse the drained noodles under cold running water to remove the sticky starch on the noodles. Just before serving, reheat the noodles by dunking it in a pot of boiling water.
5. Make preparations for the garnishing. Chop the spring onions, prepare the seasoned seaweed and get the bonito flakes ready. If you like, make a sunny side up or a hard boiled egg for the topping.
6. To serve, place the drained and heated soba noodles in a bowl and pour over the hot dash broth. Sprinkle the chopped spring onions and bonito flakes on top. Add seasoned seaweed if needed. For this recipe you can add any topping you desire. Enjoy it with a cup of green tea.
