Somen Noodle Salad with Tangy Dressing (Hiyashi Chuka)

Posted August 27th, 2010 in Food 7 Comments »

When I was talking to my family on skype the other day, my mum said she was making hiyashi chuka at home.  Since then I had a craving for it….  so I bought some ingredients from a supermarket and cooked it last night.

Hiyashi chuka is a Japanese summer dish consisting of chilled ramen noodles with various toppings.  Normal toppings are shredded ham, shredded cucumber, shredded omelet and chopped tomato.  It has many colours.  The noodle is thin egg noodle, and the sauce (dressing) is tangy (vinegary)  Some people add more vegetables such as corn and bean shoots, and drizzle mayonnaise on top.

I used somen noodle this time – the key is to cook the somen noodle al dente, so that it has some texture.

Somen noodle also goes well with the tangy sauce.

I used shredded chicken breast instead of ham, as I’m not really supposed to eat ham at the moment.

Pour the sauce (dressing) over the noodle, or dip the noodle into the sauce and eat ♪

<Hiyashi Chuka Somen> Serves 2

  • 200g somen noodle (dry)
  • 100g chicken breast
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1 tomato
  • 10cm celery
sauce
  • 50ml soy sauce
  • 60ml white vinegar
  • 70ml water
  • 20g sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • roasted white sesame seeds to sprinkle
aa
  1. Mix the sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan, and heat until the sugar dissolves.  Remove from the heat and chill in the fridge.
  2. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook somen noodle.  It takes just few minutes, and try not to overcook.  Drain, and cool under running water.  Drain, and chill.
  3. Cut chicken for faster cooking.  Poach the chicken in the boiling water until cooked, or sprinkle 1 tbs of sake and cook in the microwave (covered).  Drain, and let it cool.  Shred the chicken.
  4. Peel the cucumber (partially) and deseed.  Shred thin.  Slice celery thin.  Chop tomato.
  5. Divide the somen noodle into two serving bowl.  Top with cucumber, celery, tomato and chicken.  Pour the sauce over and serve immediately.
aa
Tags: , ,

7 Comments on “Somen Noodle Salad with Tangy Dressing (Hiyashi Chuka)”

  1. 1 achan said at 2:05 pm on August 27th, 2010:

    I LOVE hiyashi chuka 😀 It is such a refreshing dish for summer
    Recently restaurants serve it with other toppings too, but I like the original best with lots of benishoga!!

  2. 2 umepontarou said at 2:32 pm on August 27th, 2010:

    Achan,

    I’ve never seen restaurants selling hiyachi chuka in Perth. Are you in Sydney??
    Yes, I always add beni-shoga (red ginger) too 😀

  3. 3 Iruma said at 3:21 pm on August 27th, 2010:

    Aha!! Congrats ume! I just noticed ‘the clue’ congrats once again :))

  4. 4 Kath said at 7:07 pm on August 27th, 2010:

    Dear Ume,

    I do so enjoy your posts! I will make this dish for sure.

    And again, congratulations 🙂

    Kath

  5. 5 umepontarou said at 8:45 pm on August 27th, 2010:

    Iruma, Kath,

    (#>x<#) Thank you!!!

  6. 6 achan said at 12:15 pm on September 8th, 2010:

    Are you pregnant? If so congratulations おめでとう！
    Funny when I was typing my comment I didn7t want to make it too long but was going to say that I craved hiyashi chuka when I was pregnant BIG TIME. Somedays that is all I ate for 3 meals!!

    No　I am in Japan, 静岡県です。

  7. 7 umepontarou said at 1:32 pm on September 8th, 2010:

    Achan,

    I haven’t officially announced yet, but …. はい。(˚v˚)

    I crave for tangy, light-seasoned, refreshing food now. If I eat meat or oily stuff I have huge heartburn afterwords for few days…

    Thank you for reading umeboss from Shizuoka 🙂

Leave a Comment