Zaru Soba (Cold Soba Noodles) + Genmaicha Sauce

When there’s a heatwave outside and you want to switch up your usual meal with something cool and light – there’s no better way than a simple cold soba noodle (zaru soba) with genmaicha tea infused dipping sauce!

Zaru soba has always been a refreshing and cool dish to enjoy during the hot summer days, so when I came up with this recipe for zaru soba (cold soba noodles) I wanted it simple and I didn’t want to slave over the stove. This is where the steeped tea came into play as an easy way to make the dipping sauce as well as add an additional nutty flavour to it!

 

 

INGREDIENTS

For this zaru soba recipe, you can find the soba noodles (aka buckwheat noodles), mirin and bonito flakes at an Asian grocery store or specialty grocery store.

 

 

Genmaicha is also known as roasted brown rice green tea and can be found at your local Asian grocery store as well however tea shops are getting quite popular nowadays so you may be able to find them at tea shops as well.

 

 

 

I used prepared wasabi since this was what I had on hand, and it makes this recipe quick and simple –  however if you can get powdered wasabi or fresh wasabi those work as well. Just a warning, prepared wasabi is POTENT – a little goes a long long way.

 

Daikon radish and dried seaweed (nori) sheets can usually be found at your local grocery store or Asian supermarket.

 

 

 

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Making the Genmaicha Tsuyu Dipping Sauce

1. Steep approximately 4 tablespoons of genmaicha tea in 3 cups of hot water for about 15 minutes. I have a huge tea ball but ideally you would want to put this in some sort of tea ball or teabag. If you don’t have one you can strain out the tea leaves with a strainer once the tea has been steeped.
   
2. Once the tea is done, in a pitcher add in about a handful of bonito flakes (approx. 4 tbsp), pour in the tea and let it meld for about 10-15 minutes
   
3. Then add in the soy sauce, mirin, sake (optional)
4. If you are using a pour-able pitcher you don’t need to really strain the bonito flakes since it sinks to the bottom and you can get away with just slowly pouring out the sauce into dipping cups but if you are using a bowl to make the sauce then strain out the bonito flakes.
5. Let the sauce chill in the fridge for about an hour.

 

Prepping the Zaru Soba Toppings

I used a lot of toppings in this zaru soba recipe. You don’t need to go this overboard – this was more to give you options and ideas. 🙂  If you want to keep it simple, green onions (scallions) and seaweed (nori) is more than enough for some good flavourings.

1. If you are using seaweed, I found it easiest to use scissors to snip them up into slivers
2. For ginger and daikon, use a fine grater to shave it into mush. Once grated, they have a lot of excess water – squeeze and drain the excess liquid out.
   

 

Cooking the Soba Noodles

1. In a pot, add water and set it on medium heat until the water boils. Do not add salt to the water – the dipping sauce is already very salty so we don’t want to go overboard with the salt.
2. Follow the directions on the packaging to cook the soba noodles. I usually cook it for 1 minute less than it says and then taste it for done-ness so I don’t overcook it and get mushy noodles. For my batch I added the noodles into boiling water and cooked it for about 4 minutes.
3. [Tip] Watch the noodles like a hawk. They boil over very easily. When you start to see the bubbles go insane and rise up, gently blow into it – it’s wierd but it works, it makes the bubbles die down a bit.
4. Once the noodles are done, run it under cold water and rinse off all the starches. When the noodles are cool, add it into a ice bath for a few minutes.
   
5. [Optional] Sesame oil during the ice bath is optional. It is not traditionally added but I find a hint of nuttiness adds a nice flavour. A little goes a long long way, so less is more. I would go with only adding a few drops in to a maximum of no more than 1/4 teaspoon.

 

Serving & Slurping the Noodles

1. Pour the dipping sauce into small cups or bowls and serve with the soba noodles with a side of toppings! 🙂

   

2. When the meal is done, you will most likely have a lot of the dipping sauce left. Traditionally zaru soba would use the leftover soba noodle water to water down the dipping sauce to make it into a soup! Instead of the soba water, I re-steeped the tea in a teapot and used that to water down the dipping sauce to make the soup instead. 😉 Neat eh?
   

 

I went overboard on the wasabi ( I warned ya, prepared wasabi is p.o.t.e.n.t.!) so making a wasabi tea soup wasn’t exactly appealing to me haha but go nuts with it and most of all have fun with your food. 🙂

 

 

 

Don’t forget to slurp your noodles!

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