When summer time warmth and humidity sap my urge for food (and my will to cook dinner), I whip up this bukkake udon recipe. Springy chilly udon noodles in a relaxing broth – topped with katsuobushi and a superbly poached egg – have a restorative impact on me. And it by no means takes me greater than 20 minutes to make!
After I visited my grandmother on our household summer time journeys to Japan, she lived proper subsequent door to a small udon-ya (udon store). Unsurprisingly, she would inform my brother and me that the important thing to beating Japan’s summer time warmth and legendary humidity was by slurping chilly noodles like somen, soba and udon – so why don’t we go subsequent door? Whereas my brother at all times ordered stir fried yaki-udon, my grandmother and I’d get the bukkake udon. I cherished the springy, chewy chilly noodles splashed with an equally frigid mentsuyu broth. What actually did it for me although had been the crispy fried tempura bits that began off crunchy – after which softened as they blended in with the soup.
So once I got down to make chilly udon at house, I did my greatest to recapture the flavors and textures I remembered from that tiny, family-run udon store in my grandmother’s neighborhood. A variety of the tinkering got here right down to making the right umami mentsuyu broth. And whereas that broth is pretty easy, the remainder of this recipe is as simple because it will get.
Elements
Scroll to the underside of this web page for the complete recipe steps and measurements.
- Recent Udon Noodles: Recent udon is thick, springy, bouncy and chewy. I take advantage of recent refrigerated (or recent frozen) udon each time doable.
- Mentsuyu: It is a sturdy Japanese soup inventory made from soy sauce, kombu, dashi powder and mirin. Since each my home made mentsuyu recipe and most store-bought mentsuyu are extremely concentrated, I minimize each with water to mellow the power.
- Eggs: I poach one egg per bowl of noodles – and take a look at my greatest to cook dinner the white and hold the yolk liquid.
- Vinegar: That is for poaching the eggs. I combine 1 tablespoon of white vinegar right into a small pot of boiling water. The acid from the vinegar helps the egg white maintain its form and never separate because it cooks.
Toppings
- Fried Tempura Bits: These gentle, ethereal and crunchy bits of fried tempura are known as agedama or tenkasu. I add these simply previous to serving as a textural component.
- Inexperienced Onions: Finely chopped inexperienced onions add a pop of coloration, sharp taste and crisp texture.
- Bonito Flakes: Smoky and savory. Katsuobushi is dried bonito or skipjack tuna that’s shaved into paper-thin ribbons.
How To Make It
- Put together the broth. Make the chilled mentsuyu broth, minimize with water and place within the fridge till able to serve.
- Poach the eggs. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to a pot of boiling water. Create a vortex by stirring the water and add one egg. Cook dinner round 2 1/2 minutes. Take away with a slotted spoon – and repeat the method with the extra egg.
- Cook dinner, then chill the noodles. Boil the udon noodles in keeping with the bundle directions (sometimes 2-3 minutes). Drain and rinse the cooked udon beneath chilly water to cease the cooking course of.
- Assemble and serve. Place the drained noodles in serving bowls, then add the chilly broth. Prime every serving with a poached egg, tempura bits, inexperienced onions, and bonito flakes. Serve instantly.
Skilled Tip
The colder, the higher. Whereas there’s nothing inherently unsuitable with room temperature, the flavors actually smack when every part is chilly. So I prioritize temperature nearly as a lot as I do taste. Meaning, if my mentsuyu remains to be heat, I minimize it with ice cubes as an alternative of water. And an excellent approach for rapidly cooling cooked udon is to empty the noodles after which instantly submerge them in an ice bathtub (chilly water and ice) to chill them to their core.
Recipe Variations
Whereas my bukkake udon is pretty easy by design, listed here are a pair simple alternate options to the recipe as written.
- Serve it scorching. Although I personally choose chilly, it’s additionally a dish I serve throughout the winter months. Simply warmth up the mentsuyu in a pan on the stovetop – and don’t rinse the boiled udon beneath chilly water after draining.
- Add extra toppings. Widespread Japanese topping additions embrace grated daikon radish, nori (seaweed sheets), grated ginger, sliced kamaboko (fish desserts), sesame seeds and even seaweed salad combine.
- Put together the eggs in a different way. My mother serves bukkake udon with a uncooked egg yolk (egg white eliminated) on high. And I’ve actually loved making this recipe with jammy and umami ramen eggs as properly.
Storage and Make Forward Choices
As soon as assembled, bukkake udon can’t be saved for later. The noodles and tempura bits would turn out to be soggy within the fridge.
Nevertheless, since this can be a chilly dish, I usually put together the mentsuyu, inexperienced onions and poached eggs forward of time for simple meeting. I retailer these in separate containers within the fridge to be used later the identical day.
Be aware: poached eggs ought to be consumed the identical day that they’re boiled.
What to Serve With Bukkake Udon
One in all my favourite issues about going out for lunch in Japan is the teishoku – or meal set. A great level of reference is considering of Japanese teishoku as a price meal: a most important course served with miso soup, a few aspect dishes and a drink. With regards to udon meal units, listed here are a number of of my favourite heavy hitters.
Steadily Requested Questions
They may be overcooked. Noodles will proceed to cook dinner even after they’ve been drained. That’s why rapidly rinsing udon noodles beneath chilly working water – or submerging them in an ice bathtub – instantly after draining them is so necessary.
I discover that cracking an egg straight into the pot is often the perpetrator relating to damaged yolks. To fight this, I gently crack eggs right into a small ramekin after which slide them into the boiling water. Moreover, making a vortex (rigorously swirling the water right into a whirlpool) with a spoon or lengthy cooking chopsticks helps the egg from sticking to the perimeters or backside of the pot. And whereas vinegar isn’t truly compulsory when poaching eggs, the acid retains the egg white from separating.
Bukkake means to splash with liquid in Japanese. The liquid on this case is the chilly mentsuyu broth. There are different… ahem, well-known meanings for bukkake that aren’t meals associated.
Did you want this recipe? Are there adjustments you made that you simply want to share? Share your suggestions and proposals within the feedback part under!
Bukkake Udon
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook dinner Time: 10 minutes
Complete Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2 servings 1x
Class: Noodles
Methodology: Boiling
Delicacies: Japanese
Description
Springy chilly udon noodles in a relaxing broth – topped with katsuobushi and a superbly poached egg, prepared in 20 minutes.
Elements
Models
Scale
Directions
- Make the chilled broth: Combine the mentsuyu and water in a container and put it within the fridge to sit back.
- Break the eggs: Break the eggs in two ramekins and put aside.
- Add vinegar to the boiling water: Fill a small pot with water and convey it to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the vinegar and stir the water to create a vortex.
- Poach the eggs: Add one egg and depart for two ½ minutes, till the white turns into opaque. Don’t overcook the egg. You need the egg to be runny and the white to be tender. Gently scoop the egg utilizing a big slotted spoon and return the egg to the empty ramekin. Repeat the identical step for the opposite egg.
- Cook dinner the udon noodles: Convey one other pot of water to boil and add the udon noodles. Boil for two to three minutes – or observe directions on the bundle – till the noodles are cooked.
- Cool the noodles: Drain the noodles and rinse them beneath chilly water. Drain once more, properly.
- Assemble the dish: Divide the udon noodles amongst two serving bowls. Take the chilled soup out of the fridge and pour it over the noodles.
- Add the toppings and serve: Prime the noodles with the poached eggs, agedama, inexperienced onions, and bonito flakes. Serve instantly.
Notes
As soon as assembled, this dish can’t be saved for later. To make a part of it forward of time, chop the inexperienced onions and poach the eggs. Save them individually in storage containers and refrigerate till serving time. Please observe that poached eggs ought to be served the day they’re boiled.
Vitamin
- Serving Dimension: 1 serving
- Energy: 552
- Sugar: 1.1g
- Sodium: 1454mg
- Fats: 11g
- Saturated Fats: 3.3g
- Unsaturated Fats: 2.3g
- Trans Fats: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 79.7g
- Fiber: 2.1g
- Protein: 19.6g
- Ldl cholesterol: 384mg
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