Chilled Soba Noodles Served with Mentsuyu Sauce

Eating chilled soba noodles is a Japanese summer tradition perfect for warm and sunny days. The dish is often referred to as Zaru Soba, since the noodles are eaten on a  zaru, a draining basket made from bamboo, and dipped in a bowl ofmentsuyu, a noodle dipping sauce. Discover our refreshing recipe that shall be the perfect remedy for this period of great heat.

INGREDIENTS

Mentsuyu Sauce

Noodles

PREPARATION

Mentsuyu Sauce

1. Grate the ginger and strain the juice and pulp of the ginger into a small saucepan by pressing lightly.
2. Add the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar to the saucepan.
3. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
4. Leave to cool to room temperature or put the saucepan on a bed of ice water to expedite the process.
5. Add the ponzu.

Noodles

1. Clean the shiitake mushrooms by wiping them with a dry cloth and trimming the tip of the tails off. Slice them lengthwise. Heat a frying pan to medium-high heat add the oil and sauté the mushrooms for approximately 5 minutes. If the frying pan becomes very dry halfway though the cooking, add a small amount of water. Finish off by adding the light soy sauce and tossing the mushrooms around a few times. Reserve.
2. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan and clean the snow peas by trimming the edges off. Blanch the snowpeas in the boiling for 30-45 seconds. Remove from the saucepan and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Do not remove the water from the pan.
3. In the same saucepan of boiling water, cook your soba noodles as instructed on the package. Once cooked, drain the noodles, rinse them under cold water and add some ice to cool them properly.
4. Cut the green onion stalk in thin slices.
5. In a dish, assemble the noodles, shiitake mushrooms, green onion, snowpeas, white sesame and lemon zest.
6. Serve the mentsuyu in a small bowl large enough to dip the noodles into. Itadakimasu!

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