Umeboshi and Chicken Summer Soba

In the heat of the summer we find ourselves craving tart and sour foods as they are refreshing. Cold noodles are also a staple this time of year. Soba and somen noodles are often served with a soy sauce dipping sauce called tsuyu. This recipe was on NHK recently and it looked so good we made it the next day.

This chilled soba recipe is a one dish meal. Ground chicken is sautéed and set aside to cool. Cucumbers are sliced thin, sprinkled with salt and after resting for a few minutes squeezes of its excess water. Aromatic myōga are sliced thin. Combine the cooked chicken, cucumbers, and myōga in a bowl and season with some neriumé (uméboshi paste). Top the mixture over cold soba noodles and add a small amount of tsuyu.

It's a nice change-up to the simple version of soba. The meaty and crunchy vegetables are a nice contrast and it's all brought together with puckering tart uméboshi.

Kinoko Mushroom Soba きのこそば

The earthy buckwheat soba noodles are our favorite. It often becomes a last minute lunch meal as there is always dried soba noodles in the pantry as well as a bottle of men tsuyu concentrate. In this simple recipe mushrooms are simply cut into bite-size pieces and blanched in hot water and then put onto the soba. The earthy mushrooms are a perfect partner for the noodles.

Kinoko (Mushroom) Soba

Serves 4

½ cup shiméjimushrooms

½ cup shiitakémushrooms

½ cup maitakémushrooms

½ cup namékomushrooms

4 bunches of dried soba

bottled men tsuyu 麺つゆ orめんつゆ

shichimi (seven spice), optional

Heat up a very large pot of water for boiling the soba. Heat up a second large pot of water to cook the mushrooms.

Place the namékomushrooms in a bowl. Cut off the stems of the shiitaké mushrooms and cut the cap into thin slices. Cut the base of the shiméji mushrooms and break into individual pieces. Cut the base of the maitakémushrooms and break into smaller pieces. Put all of the mushrooms in a bowl.

Quickly blanch the mushrooms in hot water and set aside.

In a pot prepare the soba broth according to the directions on the tsuyu bottle.

In the very large pot of boiling water cook the soba according to the packet, usually about 4 minutes. Be careful not to let the pot boil over. Add cold water if needed to prevent them from boiling over. After it is cooked strain. Put the noodles in a soba bowl, top with the hot soba broth and the cooked mushrooms. Garnish with shichimi (seven spice).

Toshikoshi Soba Tsuyu Broth 蕎麦つゆ

Toshikoshi soba are buckwheat noodles traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve in many households throughout Japan. The long soba noodles have the significance of longevity and are part of the rituals associated with ushering in the New Year.

The soba tsuyu or soba broth can be purchased in bottles at most supermarkets now, even in America. It is an intense, slightly sweet soy broth. I prefer to make this at home as it is easy and will keep in the fridge for a long time, although we usually go through it in about a week.

This soba tsuyu comes from Kazunari Yanagihara.

Soba Tsuyu
3 Tbsp mirin
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup soy sauce

Bring the mirin to a boil and then add the sugar and soy sauce. Stir until the sugar dissolves and then remove from the stove.

Allow to cool and it is ready to use.

When serving, cook the soba noodles, add your toppings and in a separate bowl make your soba sauce. I find it easier to dilute the soba tsuyu in hot water this way. In the past when I tried to put the soba tsuyu in the bowl with the noodles and dilute with hot water it is hard to control.

For toppings for this year's toshikoshi soba we served broiled chicken, spinach and shiitake mushrooms. The spinach and shiitake were cooked then marinated in a soy and mirin broth. Garnish with yuzu peel and shichimi tougarashi.

Best wishes for 2012. Japan has had one of its most trying years with the triple disaster in Tohoku. We are all hoping for a new start and for a better year this year.