In this video, I am showing how to make Somen Noodle, a typical summer dish, which we often eat cold. I am also showing three variation of toppings, all of which are vegetarian. This is a revised version of the previous video of Somen Noodle, since the last video lacked the process of making the Mentsuyu sauce.
In my Channel, I show step by step of alternative but authentic Japanese home cooking, which can be made with the ingredients that are easily available outside of Japan.
Mentsuyu sauce: - Water 3 Tbsp - Soy sauce 2 Tbsp - Mirin 2 Tbsp or Sugar 2 Tsp - Dashi powder 2 g
Other possible toppings: Eggplant, paprica, shishito pepper, pumpkin, zuccini, carrot, onion (the vegetable needs to be either boiled/steamed/roasted/fried) tomato, lettuce, avocado, celery, (raw) boiled egg, ham, bacon, boiled chicken breast, etc.
Welcome to Taiji's Kitchen.
Today I'm going to show you how to make somen.
So a month ago or so I got a request for a summer dish and I thought to myself, what's
a very typical summer dish?
I couldn't think of anything else but this somen.
So somen noodle in Japan is a very very typical summer dish.
What it's made of is pretty much the same as udon noodle but it's just very thinly stretched
and somehow because of this thinness it has a very different flavor.
You can't eat this somen noodle warm like you would eat an udon noodle.
When Japanese people think of somen noodle, you think of summer, cold, soaked in icy water.
Today I'm going to show you three typical toppings for the somen noodle but of course
you can be very creative with this and you can add pretty much whatever toppings you
want to it.
It just happens to be that those three toppings are vegetarian.
And so this is a perfect summer dish but also maybe perfect for those vegetarians out there.
Then let's get started.
Here are the ingredients for somen noodle.
Here I have the somen noodle.
Just a slight difference makes a really big difference but if you can't find somen noodle,
you can also make this with regular udon noodle.
But to get that authenticity, try to find this somen noodle.
Then for the mentsuyu sauce, I have soy sauce, mirin.
If you don't have mirin, this can be easily substituted with just regular sugar.
And then dashi powder.
If you want to make this really authentic, you can make the dashi stock from scratch
using kombu kelp and bonito flakes.
I have another video on that so please watch it if you have an interest on that.
But today I'm going to be lazy and use this dashi powder package.
Then for the condiments, I have here ginger and scallion.
And then for the topping, I have dried shiitake mushroom, an egg, and a small cucumber.
Then let's start cooking.
I'm going to first prepare the condiments.
So the scallion or the green onion, I'm going to cut into small thin pieces.
So for this, try to cut it as thin as possible like this.
If you can, it's okay.
It's not that big of a deal.
So to do that, in Japan, we're taught to cut the vegetable with so-called cat's paw.
So not with a finger like this, where you can cut your finger, but like this, where
the knuckle touches the blade like this.
And if it cuts like this, then there's no danger of cutting the fingertips.
So hold the scallion like this with a round paw.
And then I'm sliding the hand back like this.
Then with some practice, you can cut the scallion like this thinly.
But if you can, it's also not that big of a deal.
And then the ginger, I probably just need like that much, like this.
I'm going to peel the skin off.
Then I'm going to grate this with a grater.
Then I have the two condiments finished.
Now let's prepare the three toppings.
So for the dried shiitake, I need to let it soak in water.
So to speed up the process, I'm going to use some hot water.
I'm going to add about two to three tablespoons of hot water.
Then we're going to let this soak for 10 to 15 minutes or so.
Then we're going to cut up the cucumbers.
So I'm going to take the top and bottom off.
Then we're going to cut this into small strips.
So what I'm going to do is, so I'm going to cut this in diagonal like this.
I'm going to lay it like this sideways.
And I'm going to cut it like this so that I have a strip.
And that's finished for that.
Then the egg, I'm going to beat it.
Then this, I'm going to add a half teaspoon of soy sauce.
And also about a teaspoon of mirin.
If you don't have mirin, you can add in a third teaspoon of sugar.
Then we're going to fry this.
Then I'm going to heat up the frying pan with medium heat.
So once the frying pan is heated, I'm going
to put in a little bit of frying oil.
Any frying oil will do, just about a teaspoon or so.
Then I'm going to turn the heat to low and put all the egg mixture.
And once the egg is all dried up, I'm going to turn the heat off.
And we're going to put the lid on and let
it cook with its own heat for about 30 seconds or so.
So after 30 seconds has passed, it's all dried up.
We're going to cut this up.
I'm going to cut it in half.
And also again in half here.
There's no really right way to cut this.
What we want is just small strips.
That's finished for the egg for the topping.
Now let's prepare the shiitake mushroom.
These are soaked up in water for 15 minutes now.
So I'm going to cut up the stem.
And then we're going to cut this also into small strips.
I'm going to put this in a pot.
And this water, we're going to put it in here also.
Then there's about two teaspoons of soy sauce and also
two teaspoons of sugar.
Then we're going to cook this on medium heat.
So after cooking this for about two minutes or so,
and there's no water left, then this is finished.
Turn the heat off.
Now we have all three toppings finished.
Now let's make the mentsuyu sauce.
So in a pot, I'm going to put in three tablespoons of water.
And there's two tablespoons of soy sauce.
And also here, two tablespoons of mirin.
If you have mirin, then you can also
put in two to three teaspoons of sugar.
And there's about two to three grams of dashi powder.
So this is five grams.
So I'm going to put half of this.
And I'm going to put the heat to medium and heat this up.
So we're going to cook like this for 30 seconds
or so, since mirin contains a little bit of alcohol.
So then this is finished.
Turn the heat off.
Then we're going to put this in a separate container.
Then we're going to put this aside and let it cool off.
And once it's cooled off, we'll actually
want to put it in the fridge so that it's really cold.
Now let's finally cook the somen noodle.
So usually somen noodle is in a bundle like this.
This contains 300 grams with three bundles.
So one bundle is about 100 grams.
And that's about one portion.
Here it says cook for three minutes.
So I'm going to set the time at three minutes.
And then I'm going to put this in the boiling water.
So you need to constantly mix like this
so the noodles don't stick to each other.
So once three minutes has passed,
so from here we're going to have to move very quickly.
So we're going to have to drain this.
I'm going to cool this with running water.
And here what you want to do is kind of rub the noodle
against each other like this.
Just try to get rid of the sliminess around the noodle.
Then this is finished with a noodle.
Let's assemble together.
So in some water, I'm going to put in some ice cubes.
And then here I'm going to put a noodle.
So this will be very ice cold.
With a somen noodle, it's quite common
to have little maple leaves on them.
In Japanese context, it just kind of
give the feel of the cool breeze through the visual.
Then this is finished with a somen noodle.
Let's eat.
Oh, this looks so good.
Let's eat.
Itadakimasu.
So in the sauce, I'm going to put a little bit of scallion.
And also a little ginger.
And to eat this, we're going to dip this somen noodle
in the sauce like this.
And now I'm going to slurp really badly.
So if you don't like the sound of slurping,
please skip to the end.
But this is how we eat in Japan.
So please bear with me.
Dagamasu.
Oh, this cool noodle is so good
and matches this sauce so good.
And a little of the kick from the ginger is just perfect.
Dagamasu.
A little bit of some egg in there also.
Dagamasu.
And a little bit of shiitake mushroom in there.
Dagamasu.
The sweetness of the shiitake mushroom
is also a really good match with the sauce in the noodle.
And also with the cucumbers.
Dagamasu.
And now I'm going to put everything in there.
Dagamasu.
Oh, this combination is also perfect.
If you want to get it a little bit more spicy,
then you can also put a little bit chili in there as well.
And if you have a shichimi togarashi,
that's also good as well.
Dagamasu.
Chili also adds a little nice kick to it too.
Oh, that was so delicious.
Gosousamadeshita.
Oh, that was so totally savory.
Because the noodle is very cold,
it just cools you from inside.
And so in Japan, a lot of people eat this in the summer.
This is a very typical summer dish in Japan.
And so in this hot summer,
I hope you give it a try as well.
And today I just showed you three toppings,
but you can also put it in like onsen tamago
or like ham or some chicken meat.
I've seen people put in karaage into it.
So you can also be very creative
with what you put in for the topping.
If you enjoyed what you saw,
I'd love it if you could give me the thumbs up
so that this video can be spread out to many people.
And if you have any questions or any feedbacks,
please feel free to write anything in the comments below.
I always really enjoy reading your comments.
Otherwise, I look forward to see you in the next video.
Bye.
