Zaru Soba

cold buckwheat soba noodles drained onto a bamboo zaru and dipped, strand by strand, into a chilled soy-and-dashi tsuyu with spring onion, wasabi, and shredded nori, the clean refreshment of the Japanese summer

Origin: Japan

From the journey of Buckwheat.

Soba, the buckwheat noodle, is one of the two great noodle traditions of Japan, and in summer its purest expression is zaru soba: the noodles boiled, rinsed icy cold, and heaped on a flat bamboo draining tray, the zaru, that gives the dish its name. They are eaten by lifting a few strands at a time, dipping their ends into a small cup of cold tsuyu, the dark dipping sauce of dashi, soy, and mirin, brightened with grated wasabi, finely sliced spring onion, and a little shredded nori. The pleasure is in the contrast of the cool, faintly nutty, springy noodle against the deep, savoury sauce, and in the clean simplicity of the whole. At the end of the meal it is traditional to be served sobayu, the cloudy, nutrient-rich water the noodles were boiled in, to mix into the last of the tsuyu and drink. Born in the soba houses of old Edo, zaru soba remains a daily delight and a marker of the season.

Ingredients

The Noodles

200 g dried soba (buckwheat) noodles

The Tsuyu

300 ml dashi
60 ml soy sauce
60 ml mirin
1 tsp sugar

To Serve

2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 tsp wasabi, freshly grated if possible
1 sheet nori, shredded into fine strips

Method

Make the tsuyu first: gently warm the mirin in a small pan to burn off the alcohol, then add the dashi, soy sauce, and sugar and bring just to a simmer. Take off the heat, cool, and chill thoroughly.
Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a rolling boil and cook the soba for the time on the packet, usually 4 to 5 minutes, stirring gently so they do not stick.
Drain the noodles and rinse them under cold running water, rubbing gently with your hands to wash away the surface starch, until they are cold and no longer slippery. Drain very well. Reserve a little of the hot cooking water (sobayu) if you wish.
Pile the noodles onto bamboo zaru trays or onto plates, and scatter with the shredded nori.
Pour the chilled tsuyu into individual cups and set out small dishes of spring onion and wasabi. Each eater stirs spring onion and a little wasabi into their tsuyu, then dips a few strands of noodle and eats. Finish, if you like, by mixing the hot sobayu into the remaining tsuyu and drinking it.

Notes

Good-quality dried soba, especially a high-buckwheat or jūwari (100 per cent buckwheat) noodle, makes all the difference. A quick tsuyu can be made from a bought concentrate (mentsuyu) diluted to taste. The same noodles served hot in the seasoned dashi broth become kake soba; topped with tempura, tempura soba.

The Gastrographer

Name: Zaru Soba
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 200 g dried soba (buckwheat) noodles; 300 ml dashi; 60 ml soy sauce; 60 ml mirin; 1 tsp sugar; 2 spring onions, finely sliced; 1 tsp wasabi, freshly grated if possible; 1 sheet nori, shredded into fine strips

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control