Chilled summer delight
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
For the sauce (soba tsuyu):
• 1/2 cup of kaeshi
• 1 1/2 to 3 cups of dashi stock or vegetarian dashi stock
Combine the two in a pan and bring up to a simmer. The less dashi added the more intense the sauce will be, so add the dashi a little at a time, and start tasting after you’ve added about 1 1/2 cups: keep adding if it’s too strong. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, then let cool. You can do this a day ahead of time, and refrigerate the tsuyu.
Quick and easy version: Buy a bottle of concentrated tsuyu or mentsuyu, and thin out with water.
For the noodles:
• 400g (about 14 oz) soba noodles, or about 100g (4 oz) per person Most soba comes in 100 or 200 gram packets.18 shrimp sliced in half horizontally (optional)
Condiments, or yakumi:
• Finely chopped green onions (commonly used condiment)
• Grated wasabi (optional)
• Seven-flavor pepper (nanami tohgarashi) (optional)
• Toasted sesame seeds (optional)
• Finely shredded green shiso leaves (optional)
• Finely cut nori seaweed (cut with a pair of kitchen scissors) (optional)
• Grated fresh ginger (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water up to a boil. Unlike Italian pasta, you do not need to salt the water. Once it’s boiling, hold the noodles over the water and sprinkle them in strand by strand. Once all the noodles are in, stir gently so that they are all immersed in the water.

2. Bring the water back up to a gentle boil, then lower the heat so that the water is just simmering. (This differs from the ‘rolling boil’ that’s recommended for pasta.) If the water threatens to boil over, add about 1/2 cup of cold water (but if you lower the heat to the gentle simmer, and have a big enough pot, this shouldn’t be necessary). Cook for about 7 to 8 minutes, or following the package directions (for thinner noodles 5 to 6 minutes may be enough. Test by eating a strand – it should be cooked through, not al dente, but not mushy either).At this point, you may want to reserve some of the cooking water. This is called sobayu (そば湯), literally ‘hot soba water’, and many people like to add it to the remaining soba dipping sauce at the end of the meal to drink like soup!

3. Drain the noodles into a colander. Immediately return them to the pot and fill the pot with cold water. When you’re draining the hot water you may notice that it smells quite ‘floury’. This is what you want to totally remove. If the noodles threaten to flood out over the pot, put the colander on the pot to hold the noodles down. Leave the water running for a while over the noodles.

4. Once the water and the noodle are cool, start to ‘wash’ the noodles. Take handfuls and gently swish and rub them in the water. Your goal is to wash off any trace of starchiness or gumminess on the noodles. When you’re done the water should run clear.

5. Make ready a flat sieve – a bamboo one is ideal and looks pretty. (You can use a nice looking colander instead, but flat sieves like this aren’t expensive – look in Asian markets.) Take a few strands of the noodles at a time. Loop the strands onto the sieve to make a nice little bundle. This is one portion. Allow for about 10-12 portions or so per person, if you’re using individual sieves. Arrange each bundle separately, to allow for easy pickup with chopsticks.

6. To serve the noodles: place a plate under the sieve or sieves to catch any drips. Put out small bowls filled with the condiments of your choice, from which each diner can pick. The dipping containers can be anything that can hold about a cup or so of liquid. A rice bowl or a small soup bowl, or even a tumbler, can be used. Fill each dipping bowl halfway with the cooled dipping sauce or soba tsuyu.

7. To eat, each person puts in the condiments of their choice, take a portion of the soba, and dips it in the sauce briefly – then, immediately eats the soba. Don’t let the noodle soak in the sauce or overload it with condiments, otherwise the delicate flavor of the soba will be overwhelmed.

8. At the end of the meal, you can add some of the reserve sobayu to the rest of your sauce (see above) to finish your meal.

お粥

A simple easy to digest porridge

This is often a food for those without an appetite or feeling well. The key to okayu is the water to rice ratio which determines its consistency. The ratio can be anything from 20 to 4 times water as there is rice. Depending on your preference, adjust the amount of water and the cooking time. Using rice that is already cooked can result in a thick paste and is not recommended. This porridge is commonly flavored with umeboshi (pickled plum), but other options include adding egg or sweet potatoes while cooking. Some add flavor to this plan dish by wsing dashi, chicken stock or miso.

Servings: 1

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cups rice
• about 3 cups water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Place washed and drained rice and water into a pot and cook at medium heat.

2. Add salt and stir to keep rice from sticking.

3. When boiling starts, cover pot with a lid but leave it a bit uncovered to allow some steam to escape.

4. Cook on low heat for another 30-40 minutes

Adjust water to rice ratio and cooking time to obtain the desired consistency.
Add egg, sweet potato or other flavorings near the end of the low heat cooking step, but allow enough time for the egg to cook.
お大事 (odaijini)