Travel Japan: Soba Making!
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Making Soba
If you had to pick which was more of a staple in Japanese cooking between rice or noodles, you'd be in for a pretty difficult discussion. Both are essentials in the Japanese diet, featured in almost every meal. Still, while preparing rice is usually pretty simple, a trip to Japan had our group learning how to prepare some fresh "zaru-soba" or buckwheat noodles. Why not learn how we did and make a bowl for yourself?
What you need
Ingredients
- 2 cups (280 grams/9 1/2 ounces) stone-milled buckwheat flour
- 1/2 cup (70 grams/2 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (175 grams/6 ounces) filtered/mineral water
- Buckwheat starch or tapioca starch for rolling the soba
How To Prepare
- Combine the Buckwheat flour and All-Purpose flour together.
- Add water to the flour.
- Knead the mixture until dough is formed.
- Knead the dough until smooth.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk, then roll out the dough to be cut. Sprinkle the counter and rolling pin with starch to help prevent sticking.
- Continue rolling the dough out with the rolling pin, until it is 1/16th-inch to 1/8th-inch thick.
- Fold the dough so it can be cut into noodles. Be sure to give room and be gentle while folding.
- Slice the soba with a chefs knife. Cut between 1/16th-inch to 1/8th-inch thick. Toss the cut noodles with a little more starch after to prevent sticking. Be sure to cook or freeze the noodles shortly after cutting them.
- Cook the soba! Fill a large bowl with cold water and ice cubes and set near the sink. Boil a large pot of water and drop the soba. Cook for 60 seconds, then strain over the sink. Rinse thoroughly with cool water. Drain and serve with dashi, soysauce, sesame oil, and any other condiments you may want to add to your noodles!
Enjoy
Hopefully some of these pictures help act as a guide while you figure out how to make your noodles! If it's worth noting, cooking classes in Japan are pretty fun, with a useful takeaway skill learned. It was messy at first, and taking photos while cooking is not an easy task, but food you make always tastes better from all the hard work you put in right?
If you follow the steps above, I'm sure you'll be able to create delicious noodles to share with all your friends and loved ones. Want more Japanese food? Be sure to join us for a Japan tour soon and try some of the best flavors in the country!