Cold Soba
I was already in my 20s when I was introduced to cold soba. I believe it was at Kumoro Soba, a small fastfood outlet back home, housed in Building A of SM Megamall. (I wonder if it’s still there. Hmmm…) But warm soba, I came to know much much earlier. As a child, I’ve always loved Tempura Soba, specially the one from the old Kamameshi House.
Going back to the cold soba, I think it took me the longest time to give it due attention because I thought it wasn’t too exciting. Because really, it’s just cold noodles with nori strips paired with a dipping sauce, at it’s barest at least. Then again, after that first time I got to taste it, I realized it wasn’t so bad after all. Not at all! I immediately liked it…a lot! These days, when I’m too lazy to cook up a storm, we have cold soba for lunch or dinner. We’re having it more often now that it’s Lent. You can have it with a side of hard boiled eggs (quail or chicken) or more exciting proteins and veggies.
INGREDIENTS:
Japanese buckwheat noodles
soba tsuyu (noodle dipping sauce)
nori (roasted shredded seaweed)
wasabi ( I prefer the powdered wasabi)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Add noodles to a pot of boiling water and cook for about 4-5 minutes on high heat, or until the noodles reach the desired tenderness.
2. Strain noodles into a colander and rinse under cold running water (iced water will be even better as you want your soba to be cold). Drain well then transfer to a plate.
3. Garnish with the nori and serve with dipping sauce.
So simple and easy to make, isn’t it?! Any simpler and you might as well be buying food to-go. I put a lot of wasabi in my dipping sauce, enough to clear my nasal passages (but not too much that I’ll be in danger of needing hemorrhoids cream. Kidding!).
Have a great weekend, y’all! Cheers!
I have actually discovered soba recently and completely feel in love. I am not a huge noodle person but I loved sobe. I was intimated to make it because I thought there was more to it. You recipe looks great.
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Weng, I love cold soba. Simple but delicious. Pinky and I first tried this when it was served to us in a JAL flight we took before. Too bad they don’t sell soba sauce here so I haven’t eaten this in a while. Boo hoo hoo! Good idea pa naman siya for lent.
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i love zaru soba!! ewan ko nga din ba kung bakit sarap na sarap ako sa kanya. eh napakabasic lang naman ng lasa. pero nakaka-adik. hehehe.
btw, thank you for your puto pao recipe. baka na-notice mo marami kang traffic from singapore. i brought puto to two events and they loved it! syempre ni-share ko ang recipe mo. :)
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I’ll definitely try this! Mukhang masarap, malamang hit ito sa mga chikiting. Salamat!
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munchkinmommy Reply:
March 7th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Hi Camille! Type na type ito ni Abby kaya malamang magustuhan din ng mga chikiting mo. ;) Super dali pa gawin!
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As Keith said, this is one of our absolute Japanese faves that we’ve sadly been missing for a while now… hope to get our Soba fix in Manila soon! :)
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