Otsukimi, or “Moon Viewing”, is a Japanese tradition where a variety of foods are prepared and consumed while enjoying the full harvest moon. The foods involved represent the shape of the full moon, such as round onigiri, mochi and udon with a “moon”, or raw egg. Udon with a moon is delicious on a chilly autumn night, the partially-cooked egg richly flavoring the udon broth while it is eaten. It is simple and elegant with a beautiful tradition attached to it, and it is also one of my favorite quick meals, so there you have it.
We will learn how to make fresh udon in another post. For now, fresh udon from your local Japanese market will suffice (or dried udon, if you absolutely must). I made it fresh for the first time for this recipe, so my noodles are all uneven and wonky (but delicious!).
What you need
- Ingredients for udon dashijiru
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup katsuobushi (shaved bonito flakes)
- 1 4×4 inch piece of konbu
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 8 Tbsp shoyu
- Ingredients for kake udon
- 6 cups udon dashijiru (above)
- 1 package fresh udon noodles (or about a cup of homemade udon noodles)
- 1 fresh egg
- 5 Tbsp shoyu
- 5 Tbsp mirin
What to do
Step 1 – Add your 6 cups of udon dashijiru, 5 Tbsp shoyu and 5 Tbsp mirin in a pot, bring to a boil, then lower heat and keep warm. This is your udon kakejiru
Step 2 – (**If you are using dried udon; cook according to package and strain.) Bring a large pot of water to a boil, 8-10 cups of water. Place fresh udon in a strainer and immerse into water for a minute or so. Shake off excess water and place in a donburi bowl. Cover with the hot broth and immediately, carefully, crack an egg in the center .Serve with chopped scallions, shichimi, or as-is. The hot dashijiru will partially cook the raw egg. Enjoy under a full harvest moon (or anytime!).
What’s with the udon dashijiru?
You can make a lot of this and freeze it for use in all your udon recipes. This is a general, flexible udon broth that can be used to build off of. I always make a double batch and freeze single-serving portions of broth in case I just want to make one or two bowls of udon later.
There are several other udon recipes out there, and I’m going to try and provide recipes for everything I can. Let me know in the comments if you try this one – I also like to hear about any variations you can come up with.
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[...] noodle making time! Udon are thick Japanese wheat noodles served either hot in dishes like udon with a moon, nabeyaki udon or yakiudon, or chilled with a dashi dipping sauce in the heat of summer. Udon is [...]