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  • 2 hours ago
Zaru soba is a classic Japanese cold noodle recipe served with chilled dipping sauce, making it a light and refreshing meal for warm days. This dish uses buckwheat soba noodles cooked until tender, then rinsed under cold water to remove excess starch and keep the texture firm, clean, and springy. The dipping sauce, often made with dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and a little sweetness, can be customized with green onion, wasabi, grated daikon, sesame, nori, ginger, or citrus for different layers of flavor. Each bite of cold soba is dipped briefly into the sauce so the noodles stay refreshing while picking up deep umami. The final zaru soba is simple, elegant, and easy to prepare, working well as a quick lunch, summer dinner, or light Japanese meal with a clean savory finish.
Transcript
00:00You know why Zarusoba is Japan's go-to summer comfort food?
00:03Watch those nutty buckwheat noodles hit the ice bath, then feel the cooling power of each
00:09mensu dip bite, ready to beat the heat.
00:11For a printable version of this recipe, visit my website, just google Zarusoba Sudachi to
00:17find me.
00:18Start by grabbing a small saucepan and adding 200ml of dashi stock, 5 teaspoons of soy sauce,
00:254 teaspoons of mirin, and half tablespoon of sugar.
00:29Give it a quick mix to help dissolve some of that sugar and then turn on the heat.
00:34We just want to bring that to a boil and let it bubble for 1 minute to burn off some
00:39of
00:39the alcohol in the mirin.
00:41Now you might be wondering if you can use this sauce for udon too, and of course you can,
00:45but I created this recipe specially to go well with the nutty, earthy taste of soba noodles.
00:51If you're interested in my Zaru Udon sauce, check out my recipe.
00:55You can find the link in the description with more related recipes.
00:59Okay, let's take it off the stove and give it a little swirl to help release some of the
01:05heat.
01:05Next, we're gonna transfer it to a heatproof jug and add a dry shiitake mushroom.
01:10This is gonna add an amazing savoury depth to the sauce.
01:14Let it cool and then chill it in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes.
01:19Once your sauce is almost ready, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add 2 portions
01:25of soba noodles.
01:26The portion size depends on the brand and can range from as little as 60g to as much as 120g
01:33per portion.
01:34The ones I'm using today are about 85g per bundle.
01:38I recommend using about 1L of water for every 100g of soba noodles.
01:42Cook them for the time stated on the packaging.
01:45This is typically about 4-5 minutes.
01:48By the way, if you're looking for a challenge, check out my homemade soba noodle recipe.
01:53Okay, once the timer beeps, drain them and rinse them with cold water.
01:58Not only does this stop them from overcooking and remove any excess starch, but it also cools
02:03them down quickly, ready to eat cold.
02:06Place them in a bowl of cold water and add some ice cubes to make them even colder.
02:11Finally, we're going to prepare some bonus ingredients to keep our sauce interesting.
02:16I'm starting with some freshly grated ginger root.
02:19This is a classic and really refreshing in summer.
02:23A few chopped green onions are always great.
02:25And I personally love a bit of wasabi so I can change the flavour halfway through.
02:30Okay, my noodles are nice and cold, so I'm just going to place them on a draining tray
02:35we call azaru.
02:36If you don't have one, you can serve them on a sushi mat or a plate.
02:40It works great.
02:41Sprinkle some shredded kizami nori on top as a finishing touch.
02:45Finally, divide your dipping sauce between individual serving cups and customise it with
02:50your favourite additions.
02:52All that's left is to dip your noodles and enjoy this classic Japanese summer dish.
02:57It's perfect as a light lunch or served with tempura for a real, satisfying treat.
03:02Want even more delicious recipes?
03:05Grab my free cookbook from the link in the description.
03:09Okay, let's go over the ingredients one more time.
03:11And if you're ready to cook, grab the written instructions by clicking the full recipe box
03:16with a picture that's about to pop up on your screen.
03:19Here we go, the link to the full recipe is on the screen for you now.
03:22And if you want to watch more similar videos, don't miss my Japanese noodle recipe playlist
03:26popping up on your screen as well.
03:28Thanks so much for watching and I hope to see you in the next one, bye.
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