How To Make Zaru Soba — Just One Cookbook official video
Official Zaru Soba cooking video by original creator Namiko Hirasawa Chen (Just One Cookbook). It also demonstrates homemade tsuyu, whereas FOOD's written method uses bottled mentsuyu. Original video and author attribution are preserved; playback inside FOOD has not been browser-tested.
Official cooking video · Just One Cookbook · YOUTUBECold Japanese Zaru Soba with Bottled Tsuyu Dipping Sauce
A four-serving chilled Japanese soba dish using 400 g dried buckwheat noodles rinsed cold and served with diluted bottled concentrated tsuyu, nori and scallions. Uses Just One Cookbook's shortcut with store-bought tsuyu, without making a sake-and-mirin sauce.
Ingredients
servings: 4 · Check ingredients
Steps
- 01
Measure 400 g dried soba and 90 ml concentrated bottled tsuyu; check the bottle's dilution instructions. Finely chop two scallions and shred one nori sheet. One tsp wasabi is optional.
- 02
Mix 90 ml concentrated tsuyu with 270 ml cold water and divide into four dipping cups. This is an example for a 1:3 concentrate-to-water ratio; follow the label for your specific product and adjust water to taste. Keep cold.
- 03
Bring 3 L unsalted water to a full boil. Fan in 400 g soba and stir; cook fully according to the package, typically four to five minutes, without letting noodles turn mushy.
- 04
Drain the hot water and rinse the noodles two or three times under cool running water, rubbing very gently to remove excess surface starch.
- 05
Chill the noodles in one liter of clean ice water for about 30 seconds, then drain thoroughly. Do not use ice that has contacted raw meat or seafood.
- 06
Divide noodles over four plates and garnish with shredded nori. Serve with the cold dipping cups, chopped scallions and optional wasabi to add a little at a time. Eat promptly.
Before you cook
Do not serve to anyone with buckwheat allergy. Soba often contains wheat/gluten; bottled tsuyu commonly contains soy, wheat and fish (bonito). Check each product label. Fully cook noodles and use safe clean rinse water and ice. Serve immediately or refrigerate noodles and diluted sauce within two hours at or below 4°C (40°F). Follow the bottle's dilution directions.
Allergens: buckwheat (soba; clinically important even though not in US major-nine list), wheat/gluten (most soba blends and soy-based tsuyu), soy (tsuyu soy sauce), fish (bonito/dashi often present in bottled tsuyu), check brand-specific labels for additional allergens
Image & source credits
These illustrations stand in for food photos.
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