Cold Somen Noodles with Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

• somen noodles (Japanese thin wheat noodles; soba may be used as a substitute)
• cold water (For dissolving the dashi and diluting the dipping sauce; use approximately 80% of the sauce volume as dashi/water component)
• hondashi powdered dashi (Use enough to dissolve into the cold water; fresh dashi may be substituted. The sauce uses approximately 80% dashi, 10–15% mirin, and 5–10% soy sauce by volume.)
• mirin (Sweet rice wine; approximately 10–15% of the dipping sauce by volume, to taste)
• Japanese soy sauce (Shoyu; approximately 5–10% of the dipping sauce by volume, to taste)
• 2 ice cubes (A couple of cubes for the dipping sauce, plus additional ice for chilling and serving the noodles)
• fresh ginger (A little knob, peeled and finely grated; use enough to provide a little ginger flavor)
• scallions (Thinly sliced)

Steps

1. 1

   Bring water to a boil for the somen. Kenji recommends boiling the water in a kettle first to minimize the time the stove needs to be on.

2. 2

   Prepare the dipping sauce by dissolving the hondashi powder in cold water. Add a little more cold water as needed.

3. 3

   Mix in mirin and Japanese soy sauce. Use approximately 80% dashi, 10–15% mirin, and 5–10% soy sauce, adjusting the proportions to taste. The finished sauce should be primarily savory, with a little saltiness and sweetness.

4. 4

   Add a couple of ice cubes to the dipping sauce so it is thoroughly chilled.

5. 5

   Add the somen noodles to the boiling water. Cook them for a couple of minutes, or according to their package directions, until tender. Somen is already salted, so the cooking water does not need additional salt.

6. 6

   While the noodles cook, gently poke and swirl them with chopsticks to keep them from sticking together.

7. 7

   Peel a little knob of ginger with a spoon, exposing only enough of the root to grate.

8. 8

   Finely grate the ginger using a Japanese ginger grater or the finest holes of a box grater. The grated ginger should be juicy and free of coarse fibers.

9. 9

   Trim the ends from the scallions and slice them very thinly. A backward slicing motion helps produce clean, delicate slices without crushing the scallions.

10. 10

    When the somen is cooked, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the heat.

11. 11

    Drain the noodles in a strainer, then rinse them thoroughly with very cold water to stop the cooking and chill them.

12. 12

    Serve the chilled somen with ice cubes, the cold dipping sauce, grated ginger, and thinly sliced scallions.

Notes

The source does not provide exact ingredient quantities, noodle quantity, or a precise cooking time beyond “a couple of minutes”; adjust the dipping sauce to taste. Soba noodles can be substituted for somen. The source also briefly describes a separate cucumber-and-yogurt soup, but it is a bonus recipe rather than part of the cold somen dish.

Nutrition per serving

• main
• Japanese
• cold
• no-cook-sauce
• quick
• summer
• vegetarian