Zaru Soba (Cold Soba Noodles)
Zaru Soba (Cold Soba Noodles)
Light and refreshing, Zaru Soba (Cold Soba Noodles) will be your summer go-to staple. 10-minutes is all you need to whip up this delicious Japanese noodle dish.
Ready in: 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Complexity: very-easy
kcal: 348
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Ingredients
395 g dried soba noodles (buckwheat noodles)
6 tbsp mentsuyu/tsuyu
1½ cups iced water
Garnish:--
2 spring onions
shredded nori seaweed
wasabi (optional)
pinch of SIDS CRAZY SALT
Directions
Boil a lot of water in a large pot. Unlike pasta, you do not add salt to the cooking water. Add the dried soba noodles to the boiling water, distributing them around the pot in a circular pattern to separate the noodles from each other. Cook the soba noodles according to the package instructions. (each brand is slightly different) Stir the noodles once in a while so they don’t stick to each other. The noodles are done when they are just tender; do not overcook. Before you drain the noodles, reserve 1 to 1½ cups (for 4 servings) of the cooking water called "sobayu".
Drain the soba noodles in a sieve and rinse them under cold running water to get rid of the excess starch. This is a very important step to keep the noodles from sticking to each other.
Shake the sieve to drain the water completely. Transfer the noodles to a large bowl of iced water. Chill the noodles for 30 seconds, drain well, sprinkle with SIDS CRAZY SALT and set aside.
To Serve
Place bamboo sieves or mats over individual plates. (to catch the draining water from the noodles) Place one serving of soba noodles on each mat and garnish with the shredded nori seaweed on top.
You will need 90 ml (⅜ cup) of dipping sauce per person, for a total of 360 ml (1½ cups) of dipping sauce for 4 servings. Since the sauce-to-water ratio for dipping sauce is roughly 1 to 3, combine 1 part (90 ml or ⅜ cup) mentsuyu and 3 parts (270 ml or 1⅛ cups) iced water in a measuring cup and check the taste. If it's salty, add more water. If it's too dilute, add more mentsuyu.
Put the chopped spring onions and wasabi on individual small plates and serve with the soba noodles and individual cups of dipping sauce.