Cold oroshi soba for the win
One easy batch of tsuyu dipping sauce keeps you in chilled buckwheat noodles with grated daikon all summer long.
Happy Friday, climate-controlled cook!
A few days ago, I noticed a jar of frozen dashi in my freezer and thought “Eureka! Cold oroshi soba!”
Soba, as you probably know, is Japanese buckwheat noodles. A popular way to eat them in Japan is chilled, served with grated daikon (oroshi in Japanese) and dipping sauce (tsuyu). Known as oroshi soba, it’s one of my favorite summer meals. Sometimes sliced scallion and slivered nori (dried seaweed sheets) are added.
The tsuyu pulls the whole thing together. You drop a blob of the grated daikon into the sauce, then dip your noodles into that before slurping them. So incredibly delicious and refreshing.
Making the noodles themselves is super easy: Boil them in water till they’re tender but still springy. If you buy Japanese soba (which you should, if possible), they usually come bundled in 1-person portions, which I find to be perfect-sized. Rinse them and drop a few ice cubes on them to chill, while you grate the daikon.