Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Basic Tsuyu Recipe for Somen or Soba

Tsuyu can be used for a dipping sauce for cold soba (zaru-soba) or somen noodles, and as an ingredient in many other Japanese dishes.  For using as a basic dipping sauce for zaru soba or somen, dilute 1 part tsuyu to 3 parts water.
  • 1 cup shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
  • 3/4 cup mirin
  • 1/3 cup water
  • katsuo-bushi (3g-10g, depending on your budget)
  • about 3cm of konbu (if you have it. Rinse salt off first)
  1. Place mirin, water, katsuo-bushi and konbu in a saucepan and bring to boil.  Gently simmer for 5 min or so to evaporate the alcohol.
  2. Add shoyu and simmer 1 more minute.
  3. Allow to cool completely.  This time allows the katsuobushi flavour to steep into the tsuyu.
  4. Pour through a sieve into a bottle and refrigerate.  Keeps for months.

  • The water is to make the concentration similar to shop-bought tsuyu, however you don't really need to add it, if you want to save fridge space.  Just remember when using that it will be more concentrated.  
  • Shop-bought tsuyu also contains sugar, so if you prefer sweeter tsuyu, you can add 1 Tbsp sugar to step 1.

Somen

5 comments:

  1. Very tasty reciepe! I just made it, and added the sugar for sweetness. It's now waiting to be bottled, and I just can't wait to have it with some noodles :3.
    I was lucky to bring some katsu boshi from a recent trip to Japan, and some konbu so I could make this. There's no way I could get this sauce where I live(Northern Europe...) without having to pay loads in shipping and such. I didn't realize it was so easy to make at home :D.

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  2. Soba noodles are a dish that has deep ties with Nihombashi. Soba is usually refers to thin noodles made from buckwheat flour, or a combination of buckwheat and wheat flours.

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  3. Tsuyu can be used for a dipping sauce for cold soba. Soba noodles are popular in Japanese cuisine. That is awesome flavor in any occasion. Soba contains all 8 essential amino acids, making it a healthy alternative to flour-based pastas. Soba Noodles Contain Potent Plant Compounds That Have Health Benefits. That's why i want to try soba with Tsuyu Recipe.

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