Soba with Dipping Sauce

Makes: 4 to 6 servings

Time: 20 minutes

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Fast, cool, and refreshing. If you can’t find soba noodles, substitute all-wheat somen noodles or angel hair pasta, both of which take a few minutes less to become tender.

• 2 cups Kombu Dashi (page 100), chilled
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons mirin (or 1 tablespoon honey mixed with 1 tablespoon water)
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• Salt
• 8 ounces soba (about three 60-gram bundles)
• 2 scallions, trimmed and chopped
• Wasabi paste for serving (optional)

1. Put the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in small bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Add the noodles and cook until tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water. (You can prepare the dipping sauce and noodles up to a few hours in advance. Cover and refrigerate the rinsed noodles and sauce separately.)
3. Serve each person a small bowl of noodles set on top of a couple of ice cubes in a larger bowl, with a small bowl with about ½ cup of the dipping sauce scattered with the scallions on the side. Pass a little dish of wasabi, if you’re using it, to stir into the dipping sauce.

Soba with Spicy Dipping Sauce Packs more of a punch: Omit the mirin and sugar. In a blender, combine 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or to taste), 1 clove garlic, a 1-inch piece fresh ginger, and 1 red chile or 1 teaspoon Chile Paste (or to taste; see page 664), and blend until smooth.

11 Quick Garnishes for Soba with Dipping Sauce

1. Matchsticks of daikon or other radish
2. Matchsticks of peeled and seeded cucumber
3. Minced fresh ginger
4. Chopped pickles, especially Quickest Pickled Vegetables (page 89)
5. Tiny cubes of fresh, pressed, or smoked tofu
6. Minced Hard-Boiled Egg (page 521)
7. Nori “Shake” (page 650) or Nori Chips (page 247)
8. Sesame seeds (black ones look stunning)
9. Finely shredded Napa or other cabbage
10. Chopped walnuts or other nuts
11. Kimchi (page 93)