Japanese Soba Noodle Soup

You can make this soup with any kind of noodle you would like: soba, udon, ramen and any variation of fresh or dry. For the sake of keeping it gluten free, we are having it with soba noodles today.

This soup is both sweet and savory, extremely light and very filling. There a lot of variations of ingredients, but I made the simple gluten free version this evening and if (!!) you leave out the dashi, this recipe is vegan.

For the Broth:
1/2 cup of Dashi*
1 large strip of kombu (or even a sheet or nori seaweed if it is all you have around)
5 tablespoons of Mirin**
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of tamari
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 "thumbnail" sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

For the Soup:
1/2 block of extra firm tofu (7 ounces) cubed
3 carrots, diced
1 cup of slivered Napa cabbage
3 small tat soi green heads (aka rosette bok choy) chopped coarsely
12 ounces of dry soba noodles
1 pinch of wakame, if desired
3 small leeks, chopped thinly

*First: Prepare your dashi in the soup pot. Dashi can be made with JUST seaweed for a vegan soup or seaweed and dried bonito flake (fish flake)-- it is preferable to make it with bonito, it tastes MUCH BETTER. You can get both dashi and mirin (or something like it) at any Asian grocery as well as some Whole Foods.
To make this dashi I added two sheets of nori seaweed and 1/2 a cup of dashi with 16 cups of water. I brought this to a boil, removed the nori, turned it to low and then whisked what was left (if you use kombu seaweed it will not dissolve into your broth, nori will so it is important if you want it out of your soup to whisk your dashi AFTER you remove your nori)

**Mirin is a sweet rice-wine product from Japan. Some of them (as there are various makers and distributors) contain high fructose corn syrup so I am really picky about which type I buy. If you don't want to seek out Mirin you can substitute it for an additional 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar and three tablespoons of sugar in this recipe.

Second: Mix Mirin, rice vinegar, sugar, salt, tamari, garlic and ginger in a bowl and add to the broth on low heat. Stir well for a minute or two. Stir in diced carrot and cubed tofu and turn the heat up to medium.

                                            


Third: Boil water for your soba noodles to cook in a separate pot.  Cook them according to the directions on the package-- mine took seven minutes of boiling and then needed to be rinsed with cold water after they were drained.

Fourth: About five minutes before you are ready to serve, stir in your cabbage, tat soi and wakame (if you want it!) Keep the heat on the soup at this point on medium low because you don't want to over cook the vegetables.

Fifth: Dish your cooked and rinsed soba noodles in your serving bowls (I make a heaping nest of soba noodles) and then ladle your soup on top. Top with chopped leeks or scallions and serve! :) Delish.

Bon appetit! Love AJ and Nicole