bits and pieces

I found a recipe for some tasty dishes in the latest issue of Sunset Magazine, including one for “Warm Soba Noodle Bowl.” I meant to make it a few weeks ago, but I kept putting it off since I was too tired to bother. I finally tried it out tonight though, and it was actually pretty easy once I got everything together.

The bulk of it is the dashi (soup base) and soba noodles (I used organic ones, so they’re lighter), and then whatever you put on top of it. In this case, the topping is a hard-boiled egg half, shiitake mushrooms, nori (dried seaweed), green onions, and daikon radish. I left out the daikon since I’m really not a fan, and I felt like something was missing. More green onions would have been good, or maybe something crispier, like bits of tempura batter. But I liked it all and will try it again.

And here’s the recipe for safe-keeping:

Warm Soba Noodle Bowl
Serves 4
Time: 40 minutes.

A popular Japanese winter dish, warm soba with toppings is just the thing for lunch on an overcast day. The broth is made with dashi, a staple soup base whose delicate flavor comes from dried bonito tuna flakes and seaweed.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 6 cups liquid dashi (or use concentrate)*
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 16 ounces dried soba noodles
• 20 thin slices daikon, peeled
• 1 sheet nori seaweed, cut into 1/4- by 1-in. strips
• 2 green onions, finely sliced diagonally

Preparation

1. Put eggs in a small pot of cold water. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover, and let sit 15 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water.
2. Bring dashi to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add mushrooms, mirin, and soy sauce.
3. Bring a 3-qt. saucepan of water to a boil. Add soba and cook, stirring to separate noodles, until softened, about 5 minutes. Drain but don’t rinse. Divide noodles among 4 serving bowls.
4. Pour 1 1/2 cups of dashi over noodles in each bowl. Arrange mushrooms and daikon over noodles, dividing evenly so each bowl has a neat row of both. Peel eggs and cut each in half lengthwise, placing 1 half in each bowl. Divide nori and green onions among bowls.

*Find liquid dashi in containers in Japanese groceries and some gourmet stores. It’s more widely available as a dry concentrate called dashi-no-moto; reconstitute according to package directions.