Soba with Hot Mushroom Dipping Broth

Kinoko no Tsuke-Soba

I love making this dish especially when I am feeling a little weak and need something gentle for my stomach. Once you simmer mushrooms in a rich dashi-based broth, pour it into serving bowls and dip cold noodles in it to enjoy. The mushrooms adds the nice savory flavors to the broth. And, I love to use a generous amount of thinly-sliced ginger for both flavor and helping my body stay warm after having the dish. It's so soothing and you can keep eating more and more. This dish is also nice to serve for a larger group. You can also change around the ingredients to cook in the broth for fun. For a vegan version, you can make with kombu dashi or vegetable dashi instead of kombu & bonito dashi.

Equipment

Medium-size Classic-style Donabe (1.5-qt/ 1,500 ml or larger)

Servings

4

Ingredients

• 4 servings (about 12 oz/ 360 g) soba noodles

(Broth)

• 4 cups (1,000 ml) kombu and bonito dashi or your choice of dashi
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) white tamari
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml) mirin

• 5 oz (150 g) enoki mushrooms, bottom end trimmed and broken apart by hand
• 5 oz (150 g) shimeji mushrooms, bottom end trimmed and broken apart by hand
• 2 negi (Japanese green onion, white part only) or 4 - 6 green onions (both white and green parts), thinly-sliced at an angle
• 1 oz (30 g) or more ginger, finely-julienned

• Suggested condiments: ground roasted sesame seeds, grated daikon, shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven-spice powder), etc.

Procedure

1. Cook the soba noodles according the package's cooking instructions. Rinse under cold running water and drain well. Transfer to a serving plate(s). Set aside.
2. Combine the ingredients for the broth in a donabe and bring to simmer over medium heat.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the negi and ginger and stir.
5. Serve some of the broth with the contents into individual bowls. Take a small amount of the soba at a time and dip in the broth and eat. Enjoy with some condiments (you can put a small amount in the broth in a bowl or top on the noodles), if you like.
6. Replenish the bowls with more broth, as necessary.

Get the donabe ready.

Serve the broth with the mushrooms et. into a serving bowl.

Dip some soba to enjoy.

With rich flavors of mushrooms and ginger, this dish makes your body and heart so satisfied.