Chilled Somen with Dipping Sauce
Inspired by techniques from Serious Eats, NYT Cooking and America's Test Kitchen.
Delicate chilled Japanese somen noodles served over ice with a cold savoury dipping sauce and fresh aromatics, perfect for a hot day.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Soak the kelp. Soak the kombu in the 600ml of water for 15 minutes to begin drawing out its flavour. This gentle soak is the base of the dipping sauce's savoury depth.
- 2
Simmer and remove kelp. Bring the water slowly to a bare simmer and lift the kombu out just before it reaches a boil. Boiling kelp turns the stock slimy and bitter, so timing its removal carefully keeps the base clean-tasting.
- 3
Steep the bonito. Add the bonito flakes to the hot liquid, turn off the heat and let them steep for 3 minutes, then strain without pressing on the flakes. Pressing would push cloudy, bitter particles through into the stock, so a gentle strain keeps it clear.
- 4
Season and chill the sauce. Stir the soy sauce and sugar into the strained stock until dissolved, then cool and chill for at least 1 hour. Chilling thoroughly matters here, since the sauce is served cold and needs time to come fully down in temperature for the best flavour.
- 5
Cook the noodles. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add the somen and stir to separate the strands, cooking for 1-2 minutes until just tender with a firm centre. Somen are very thin and cook fast, so watching them closely stops them turning soft and sticky.
- 6
Rinse and chill the noodles. Drain the noodles and rinse under cold running water, rubbing them gently between your hands to remove surface starch, then plunge them into the iced water. This rinse is essential, since leftover starch is what makes cooked noodles clump together into a sticky mass.
- 7
Serve with the dip. Arrange the chilled noodles in small mounds on ice and set out the cold dipping sauce in individual bowls alongside the spring onions, ginger, sesame seeds and shiso. Dip just a few strands at a time into the sauce as you eat, so the delicate noodles don't become waterlogged.
Storage
The dipping sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Cooked, rinsed somen are best eaten the same day, as they lose their delicate texture on standing; they aren't suitable for freezing. Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
Equipment
- saucepan
- fine sieve
- large pot (at least 4 litres)
- colander
- large bowl of iced water
- 4 small dipping bowls
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 325 kcal |
| Protein | 11.8 g |
| Carbohydrate | 64.8 g |
| of which sugars | 1.3 g |
| of which free sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 1.5 g |
| of which saturates | 0.3 g |
| Fibre | 0.4 g |
| Salt | 2.47 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
3.6 g High Protein needs ≥ 10 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
