In this video, I am showing how to make Miso-nikomi Udon (Miso Udon), which is a regional food of Aichi Prefecture, where I come from. This is a variation of Udon noodle, which often cooked in a clay pot and served in the winter. This will warm you up from inside.
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.
Ingredients for Misonikomi Udon: Udon noodle 100 g Scallion 1 stalk Birdock root (or carrot, daikon radish) 1 Dried Shiitake mushroom 2 Egg 1 Chicken 20 g
Welcome to Taiju's Kitchen.
Today, I'm going to show you how to make miso nikomi udon.
So a while ago, at the very beginning of this channel,
I made a video of udon noodle,
and now it's getting to a cold season.
I wanted to make something that warms up from inside.
So this miso nikomi udon is a very regional food
from the region where I come from, Nagoya.
I'm not quite sure how widespread that is throughout Japan.
Probably not, but in Nagoya, you find this very quite often.
I really, really love this recipe,
but of course, outside Japan, it's not well known at all.
So I thought it might be interesting to show you this
for those who may be a little bit bored
making the same udon recipe.
This is also another way to use miso paste.
If you're wondering how you can incorporate miso
in your cooking.
It's very common to make this with chicken meat and egg.
If you take out the chicken meat,
then you can make this vegetarian.
If you also take out the egg,
then you can make this strictly vegan as well.
So it might be also something for you to try out.
Then, let's get started.
Here are the ingredients for miso nikomi udon.
Today, I'll be making with this dried udon noodle.
You can also use a frozen udon noodle
or like a raw udon noodle.
Whatever udon noodle you can find is fine.
Then I also have here burdock.
I was very happy to find this.
For this recipe, it doesn't have to be a burdock.
You can also use other root vegetable like carrot,
daikon radish, or like turnip.
Whatever you can find is fine.
Then I have a regular scallion,
dried shiitake mushroom, an egg, and cut up chicken meat.
Whenever I buy chicken meat,
I cut up in small pieces like this
and make kind of like a sheet and freeze it like that.
So whenever I need a little pieces of chicken meat,
then I have those ready.
Then for the stock, I have dashi powder.
You can also add in other leafy vegetable
like napa cabbage, cabbage, or spinach.
Then you have a little more vegetable inside.
Then for the seasoning, I have here dark miso paste.
I definitely recommend trying getting
these darker miso paste.
Originally, the region where I come from, Nagoya,
we have this really, really thick miso paste
called hatcho miso,
but any of these dark miso paste you can find is fine.
You can, of course, make it with other miso paste,
but it won't have that same really authenticity
as these dark miso paste.
Add a little sugar as well.
Then let's start cooking.
Let's prepare all the ingredients.
Then as a first thing,
I'm gonna soak this dried shiitake in hot water.
Just like this, and if we let it soak like this
for 10 minutes or so, it'll be ready.
Then the scallion, I'm gonna cut into bite-sized pieces.
Take the end part off,
and I'm just gonna cut into diagonal pieces like this
so that one, it gets cooked easier,
but also have like a nice shape.
I'm gonna try to kind of separate
the green part and the white part.
Let's prepare the spurdock.
So the spurdock has a really thick skin,
so I'm gonna peel this off.
By the way, of course, this has been washed.
Then I'm gonna cut off the end off,
and we're also gonna cut this in small pieces.
We can also prepare the egg.
And the chicken is already in small pieces,
so I don't need to do anything,
but this is already cut up, then do that first.
Now all the ingredients are prepared, let's get cooking.
Then is the next thing, we're gonna cook the udon noodle.
So often a Japanese package would have
like a bundle like this for one portion.
This is about 90 to 100 grams.
And then with these udon, it's very important
that you have a flare, because these udon noodles
are kind of flat like this, kind of like a fettuccine,
and they'll stick together if you don't separate them well.
So what you wanna do is you wanna twist it
like this a little bit, and then put it in here,
and let it go, they have a little flare.
And make sure you kind of mix it up
a little bit in the beginning,
so that they don't get cooked, stuck together.
So this udon noodle, I need to cook for 10 minutes,
but I'm gonna cook this later in the broth,
so I'm gonna set a timer to seven minutes or so.
So then seven minutes has passed, I'm gonna turn heat off,
and we're gonna drain this.
Then we wanna cool this with running water
so it doesn't get cooked further.
Then this is ready.
Let's make the soup base for the miso nikomi udon.
So today I have a clay pot like this
that we use for hot pots often.
Miso nikomi udon is commonly served on a pot like this,
but if you don't have this, of course,
you can just use a regular pot.
And here I'm gonna put in two cups of water.
Then we're gonna put in here the stock
of the dried shiitake mushroom.
I'm also gonna put in these dried shiitake mushroom in here,
but if you have a stem that you wanna take it off,
so this one doesn't have a stem, it's okay,
I'm gonna put it in right here.
And this one has a stem,
so I'm gonna try to cut off this stem like this.
Of course, you can eat the stem.
Tends to be a little bit fibrous
and doesn't have a really good texture to it,
so often we take it off.
And in here a package of dashi powder,
which is about five grams.
Then in here about a half teaspoon of sugar.
This will kinda make the soup a little milder.
And then two tablespoon of miso paste.
If this miso paste doesn't get dissolved, it's okay,
not a big problem.
They get dissolved as you cook them.
Then here the cut up burdock
or any root vegetable you have.
Then we're gonna turn the heat to high
and bring this to boil.
And once this comes to boil,
I'm gonna turn the heat to medium
and cook like this for a minute or so
so the burdock gets cooked through.
So after about a minute,
I'm gonna put in all the rest of the noodles.
And also the bottom part of the scallion.
Then we're gonna turn the heat to high
and bring this to boil.
Then once this comes to a boil,
I'm gonna put in the chicken meat
and also the egg.
So I'm gonna make a small dent right here somewhere
and put this in here.
Then I'm gonna put the lid on
and turn the heat low
and cook like this in low heat for a minute or so.
So a minute has passed.
Oh yeah, this is looking perfect.
I'm gonna put all the rest of the scallion.
I'm gonna turn the heat off.
Then this is finished.
Let's eat.
Oh, it smells so good.
So by the way, to eat this,
it's inevitable that I'm gonna spill.
I'm gonna wear an apron.
If you haven't had a chance to go to Japan
and eat this in Nagoya,
then you also start with a paper apron.
So if you're making this at home,
please wear an apron.
Otherwise, you will spill all over.
As you can see, some of my students made this for me.
Okay, let's dig in.
Itadakimasu.
So where this is served,
we don't eat directly from the pot like this.
And we usually serve it on a bowl like this.
Or in Nagoya, this comes with a lid without a hole.
We usually serve it on the lid and eat it from there
because the pot is way too hot.
So as you can see, it's inevitable that it's gonna spill.
Let's dig in.
Itadakimasu.
So excuse me for the slurping sound.
I love this dry shiitake.
Soaking up all the sauce.
I love this kind of half-cooked egg.
To me, this is kind of like the highlight
of the miso nikomi udon.
Oh, perfectly runny.
Itadakimasu.
So good.
This salt egg yolk is so perfect.
I feel like it's spicy.
You can also add in a little bit of chili.
Mix this in.
Itadakimasu.
And since this miso nikomi udon is kind of salty,
it's very common for our region to eat rice with it.
Oh, that was so totally delicious.
Gochisosamadeshita.
Oh, that was so totally filling.
Oh, so satisfying.
So as you saw, making this miso nikomi udon
is not very difficult, except for the dashi powder.
It doesn't have any special ingredients.
It's actually quite easy to make.
But of course, I'll have to warn you,
the very personal thing,
when I invite the people from outside of my region
to eat this, I've met a couple of you
who don't really like this.
So I can't really guarantee that you'll love this,
but maybe this is something new for you to try out.
If you enjoyed what you saw,
I'd love it if you could hit the like button for me
so this video can be spread out to many people.
And if you have any questions or any requests
or any feedback, I'd love it if you could write anything
in the comments below.
I always really, really enjoy reading them.
Then I look forward to seeing you in the next video.
Bye.
