Nothing is better on a hot summer day then something cool and refreshing, and somen is the perfect dish for that. Somen are thin Japanese wheat noodles that are typically served cold with a dipping sauce and condiments to garnish it. It’s a very light meal, as noodle dishes go, and the variety of condiments and sauces for somen are endless. It works great in bentos too!
I’m going to show you a simple, classic somen recipe that you can prepare with minimal ingredients. We will make the dipping sauce first.
What you need
- Special Equipment
- soup bowl with ice cubes and water
- cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer
- Ingredients For Dipping Sauce
- 2 c water
- 1/2 oz katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
- 1/2 c mirin (sweet cooking wine)
- 1/2 c light shoyu (soy sauce)
- Ingredients
- 7oz (200g) somen
- small knob of ginger
- cucumber
What to do
Step 1 – The Dipping Sauce – Bring all the ingredients for the dipping sauce to a boil and turn down to medium, cooking for about a minute. Turn off the heat and wait, allowing the bonito flakes to sink to the bottom. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and place in the refrigator to chill.
Step 2 – Bring a large amount of water in a large pot to a rolling boil. Add the noodles and stir immediately with chopsticks to prevent sticking. When it comes to a boil again, add an additional 1/2 a cup of water.
Step 3 – When the water reaches another boil, remove from heat ands strain into a colandar, rinsing under cold water. While rinsing the somen, gently squeeze and turn the noodles with your hands to remove the stickiness. Rinse and drain again.
Step 4 – Slice the cucumber and grate the ginger. Place cucumber slices and the noodles in the ice water
Step 5 – Serve the noodles with a small cup of the dipping sauce and the grated ginger on the side. Dip the noodles in the sauce and enjoy!
Variations
I’ve made somen with boiled and chilled shrimp, scallops and chicken, thin sliced daikon, burdock root or carrot, added a splash of vinegar and/or chili oil to the dipping sauce, parboiled cabbage, myoga (young ginger), kim chee… the list is endless and the results are always delicious.
Please, as always, if you make this reciupe (or any recipes on this site) please let us know in the comments! Have you had somen, or chilled noodle dishes of any kind?
Not logged in
I make a lot of stock. When tomato is cheap, I make that stock into consomme. And when I have a bunch of consomme around, I invariably want to add somen to it.
[Reply]
hiyashi somen!!!
[Reply]