Recipes

Soba Noodles with Two Dipping Sauces

February 17, 2016

In this preparation from Sonoko Sakai, author of Rice Craft, cold soba noodles are eaten with two dipping sauces: one made of dashi and the other a homemade, lightly sweetened walnut paste. If you want to go the traditional route, pick up a set of flat bamboo colanders, available at hitachiya.com, to serve the noodles on, allowing them to drain as they sit.

Featured in: The Art of Homemade Soba Noodles

In this preparation, cold soba noodles are eaten with two dipping sauces: one made of dashi and the other a homemade, lightly sweetened walnut paste.

Yield: serves 6

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup (4 1/2 oz.) walnuts, finely chopped
2 tsp. sugar
2 ¹⁄₄ cups Dashi Stock, chilled
³⁄₄ cup Kaeshi, chilled
6 oz. daikon radish, peeled and grated with a Microplane
1 oz. freshly grated wasabi or paste
6 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise
12 oz. Fresh Soba Noodles or dried noodles

Instructions

In a small food processor or mortar and pestle, grind the walnuts with the sugar until they form a smooth paste and divide the walnut paste among 6 small ramekins.
In a small bowl, stir the dashi with the sauce base and divide the dipping sauce among 6 more small ramekins. Divide the grated radish, wasabi, and scallions among 6 plates, keeping each in its own separate pile.
In a large pot of boiling water, cook the soba noodles until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain the noodles into a colander, submerge the colander in a bowl of ice water, and then drain and rinse the noodles under cold running water until the water runs clear. Submerge the noodles again in the bowl of ice water, drain, and then divide the noodles among the 6 serving plates. Serve the noodles immediately with the dipping sauces, grated radish, wasabi, and scallions.