Zaru soba is a popular Japanese dish of chilled soba noodles served with a simple yet deeply flavoured dipping sauce. This refreshing dish is the perfect 10-minute meal for a hot summer day!
Servings2
Ingredients
- 7 oz soba noodles (buckwheat noodles)
- 6 cups of water , for cooking noodles
- ice cubes and water , for the ice bath
- a handful of shredded nori , for garnish
Soba dipping sauce (see notes for mentsuyu concentrate dipping sauce)
- ⅔ cup chilled dashi stock , homemade dashi or from dashi powder*
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
Dipping sauce toppings (optional):
- finely grated daikon or daikon
- wasabi
- sliced green onions (scallions)
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Ready an ice bath by adding cold water and a handful of ice cubes to a large bowl.
- Bring a large amount of water to a boil – at least 6 cups. Add the soba noodles and cook according to packet instructions or until just tender – about 5 minutes for me. Don't overcook the noodles, they need to be firm and chewy. And stir now and then to avoid sticking.
- Drain and rinse the cooked noodles under cold running water to remove excess starch and avoid sticking. Then place them in the ice bath for 30 seconds, drain well and set aside.
- While the noodles are cooking, mix the dashi stock, soy sauce and mirin in a small bowl. It should be sweet and savoury with punchy flavours. Add sugar if you prefer the sauce a bit sweeter. Taste again and adjust with more cold water (less intense), hon dashi powder (more umami), soy sauce (saltier), or mirin (sweeter) to suit your taste.
- To serve, divide the soba noodles into individual bowls or zaru* and garnish with the shredded nori seaweed. Serve the dipping sauce in small bowls – one for each person to dip their noodles in. Place the optional dipping sauce toppings on small plates to share. Then every person should customise their dipping sauce with some wasabi, grated ginger/daikon, sliced green onions or toasted sesame seeds. Use chopsticks to pick up some noodles, dip them into your customised dipping sauce and enjoy your zaru soba!
Notes
- Dashi stock: You can use homemade dashi stock. Or dissolve 1 teaspoon of hon dashi in ⅔ cup of ice cold water – or mix according to package instructions. If you enjoy an icy cold dipping sauce, as I do, place your dashi in the freezer for 10 minutes before serving.
- Dipping sauce from mentsuyu: You can also make the dipping sauce from store-bought or homemade mentsuyu concentrate. For one cup of mentsuyu noodle dipping sauce, mix a ⅓ cup of chilled mentsuyu concentrate with ⅔ cup ice-cold water. I often make a big batch of mentsuyu since it keeps for 4 weeks in the fridge. And it's super easy to make from scratch using katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), kombu (dried kelp), soy sauce, sake and mirin.
- A zaru is a shallow bamboo basket used to serve cold noodles in Japanese cuisine. It helps to avoid soggy noodles. But you can simply drain the noodles well and serve them in bowls. Or line a normal dinner plate with a bamboo mat.