Hiyashi Soba and Tempura

Another delicious Daring Cooks Challenge

I had never tried Japanese food till a year back. I was introduced to it by a couple of our friends. They introduced me to Sushi, for some reason I had never tried it. But the moment I tried it, I fell in love with it. So when the February Daring Bakers Challenge was to be a Japanese dish I was more than excited to try it out. The reason being that I always end up having just the Sushi when we go out for Japanese food. The Cold Soba Salad & Tempura were so tempting that I had to try making it immediately. I made it almost as soon as the challenge was posted on the site. But am late posting it as I was busy making Valentine’s day dinner yesterday. And was too tired at the end of the day cause it was a Monday so I had to go to my Internship which is 40 minutes away and then I went shopping and then made dinner. So it was a long day.

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com.

It takes about 35-45 minutes to prepare the Soba and about an hour or less to prepare the Tempura. The time you take to prepare the Tempura depends on the amount of Tempura you are making.

Thanks Lisa from Blueberry girl, this was an amazing challenge. So easy to make yet delicious and satisfying. Thumbs up for the awesome February challenge… And here’s to another successful daring bakers challenge! I am sorry about the pictures. I was in such a rush to eat that I really messed up the pictures.

Hiyashi Soba

Ingredients:

1. 2 quarts (2 L) water + 1 cup cold water, separate
2. 12 oz (340 g) dried soba (buckwheat) noodles (or any Asian thin noodle)

Directions:

Cooking the Noodle:

• Heat 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the noodles a small bundle at a time, stirring gently to
  separate. When the water returns to a full boil, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this twice. When the water returns to a full boil, check the noodles for doneness. You want to cook them until they are firm-tender. Do not overcook them.
• Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold running water until the noodles are cool.  This not only stops the cooking process, but also removes the starch from the noodles. This is an essential part of soba noodle making. Once the noodles are cool, drain them and cover them with a damp kitchen towel and set them aside allowing them to cool completely.

Mentsuyu – Traditional dipping sauce:

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups (480ml) Kombu and Katsuobushi dashi (This can be bought in many forms from most Asian stores and you can make
   your own. Recipe is HERE.) Or a basic vegetable stock.
2. 1/3 cup (80 ml) soy sauce or a low sodium soy sauce
3. 1/3 cup (80 ml) mirin (sweet rice wine) (If you can’t find Mirin, a substitute recipe can be found HERE)

Directions:

• Put mirin in a sauce pan and heat gently. Add soy sauce and dashi soup stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Spicy Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients:

1. ¾ cup 70gm/2½ oz spring onions/green onions/scallions, finely chopped
2. 3 tablespoons (45 ml) soy sauce
3. 2 tablespoons (30 ml) rice vinegar
4. ½ teaspoon  (2½ ml) (4 ⅔ gm) (0.16 oz)  granulated sugar
5. ¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1/8 gm) (0.005 oz) English mustard powder
6. 1 tablespoon (15 ml) grape-seed oil or vegetable oil
7. 1 tablespoon (15 ml) sesame oil (if you can’t find this just omit from recipe.)
8. Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste – roughly 1/3  a teaspoon of each

Directions:

• Shake all the ingredients together in a covered container. Once the salt has dissolved, add and shake in 2 tablespoons of water and season again if needed.

Common Hiyashi Soba Toppings:

1. Thin omelet strips
2. Ham
3. Boiled chicken breasts
4. Cucumber
5. Boiled bean sprouts
6. Tomatoes
7. Toasted nori (Dried Seaweed)
8. Green onions
9. Wasabi powder
10. Finely grated daikon (Japanese radish)
11. Beni Shoga (Pickled Ginger)

All toppings should be julienne, finely diced or grated.  Prepare and refrigerate covered until needed.

Serving:

Traditionally soba is served on a bamboo basket tray, but if you don’t have these, you can simply serve them on a plate or in a bowl. Divide up the noodles, laying them on your serving dishes. Sprinkle each one with nori. In small side bowl or cup, place 1/2 cup (120 ml) of dipping sauce into each. In separate small side dishes, serve each person a small amount of wasabi, grated daikon, and green onions.The noodles are eaten by sprinkling the desired garnishes into the dipping sauce and eating the noodles by first dipping them into the sauce. Feel free to slurp away! Oishii!

Tempura:

Ingredients:

1. 1 egg yolk from a large egg
2. 1 cup (240 ml) iced water
3. ½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) plain (all purpose) flour, plus extra for dredging
4. ½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) cornflour  (also called cornstarch)
5. ½ teaspoon  (2½ ml) (2½ gm) (0.09 oz) baking powder
6. oil, for deep frying preferably vegetable
7. ice water bath, for the tempura batter (a larger bowl than what will be used for the tempura should be used.  Fill the large bowl with ice and some water, set aside)
8. Very cold vegetables and seafood of your choice:
   • Sweet potato, peeled, thinly sliced, blanched
   • Carrot, peeled, thinly sliced diagonally
   • Pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, thinly sliced blanched
   • Green beans, trimmed
   • Green bell pepper/capsicum, seeds removed, cut into 2cm (¾ inch)-wide strips
   • Assorted fresh mushrooms
   • Eggplant cut into strips (traditionally it’s fanned)
   • Onions sliced

Directions:

• Place the iced water into a mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg yolk and gradually pour into the iced water, stirring (preferably with chopsticks) and blending well. Add flours and baking powder all at once, stroke a few times with chopsticks until the ingredients are loosely combined.  The batter should be runny and lumpy. Place the bowl of batter in an ice water bath to keep it cold while you are frying the tempura. The batter as well as the vegetables and seafood have to be very cold. The temperature shock between the hot oil and the cold veggies help create a crispy tempura.
• Heat the oil in a large pan or a wok. For vegetables, the oil should be 320°F/160°C; for seafood it should be 340°F/170°C. It is more difficult to maintain a steady temperature and produce consistent tempura if you don’t have a thermometer, but it can be done. You can test the oil by dropping a piece of batter into the hot oil. If it sinks a little bit and then immediately rises to the top, the oil is ready.
• Start with the vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that won’t leave a strong odor in the oil. Dip them in a shallow bowl of flour to lightly coat them and then dip them into the batter.  Slide them into the hot oil, deep frying only a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the oil does not drop.
• Place finished tempura pieces on a wire rack so that excess oil can drip off. Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean and prevent the oil (and the remaining tempura) from getting a burned flavor.
• Serve immediately for the best flavor, but they can also be eaten cold.