Kake udon is a simple Japanese noodle dish made with udon noodles and an umami-packed broth. With mentsuyu sauce as your noodle soup base, you can deliver all of the authentic Japanese flavours with only three ingredients! Use this simple recipe as your base and customise the noodle soup to your heart's content.
Servings2
Ingredients
- 2 servings udon noodles*
- ½ cup mentsuyu , homemade or store-bought*
- water , depending on the mentsuyu concentration
- 1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onion , green parts only
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring plenty of water to a boil. Add the udon noodles and cook according to package instructions – my parboiled noodles only need 2 to 3 minutes. Frequently stir the noodles using chopsticks to separate them.
- Rinse the noodles in cold running water and leave to drain in a colander.
- Return the saucepan to the heat. If you're using my homemade mentsuyu, mix ½ cup mentsuyu with 2 cups of water. If you're using store-bought mentsuyu, dilute the mentsuyu according to the instructions on the bottle – some mentsuyu don't need dilution. I use about 1¼ cups of broth per serving. Bring the broth to a simmer. Taste and adjust with more water or mentsuyu, then remove from the heat.
- Divide the udon noodles between two bowls and pour the hot broth over the noodles.
- Garnish with the chopped green onion and serve hot.
Notes
- I used the packaged parboiled udon noodles sold in 7-oz portions (200 grams). You can also use fresh or frozen udon noodles. If you can only find dried udon noodles, you can use them, but they won't be as plump and chewy as fresh, frozen or parboiled noodles. See ingredients and substitutes for more.
- Mentsuyu is a Japanese soup base you can buy premade. But homemade mentsuyu sauce is super easy to make using dried bonito flakes (or shiitake mushrooms), kombu, sake and mirin. It is concentrated and flavourful and keeps for 4 weeks in the fridge, so it's worth making a large batch for quick noodle soup or dipping sauce.
- You can customise the noodle broth with a pinch of sugar or salt if you would like it sweeter or more seasoned.
- If you don't have mentsuyu, you can create a quick and easy broth by heating 2⅓ cups dashi broth with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons mirin.