Tempura Soba

Posted September 25th, 2010 in Food 7 Comments »

I sometimes get a craving for tempura soba.  The combination of crispy tempura and freshly boiled soba noodle in warm, sweet, soysauce-based dark soup.

In the area around my house (Shiga), we don’t eat soba much.  We eat udon more often.  In Japan, the type of food people eat is different depends on where you live.  For example, Western people (eg Kyoto) use white miso for miso soup, but Eastern people (eg Nagoya) use red miso.  Western people eat udon, but Eastern people eat soba.  It’s not always black and white, some Western people eat red miso and soba noodle too, of course, but it’s what we say in Japan.  In fact, my mum never cooked soba at home.  It was always udon.

But, in the New Year’s Eve, I sometimes felt like eating soba.  As we eat toshikoshi-soba (people in Japan eat soba noodle at midnight between New Years Eve and New Years Day), I sometimes asked my mum to prepare instant soba noodle.

I love this cup noodle soup…   It’s so shame that Australia doesn’t allow these noodle to be imported.  I just have to eat it in Japan.

Anyway, I made tempura soba the other day and it was really nice.

You can follow the recipe for crispy tempura here.

I made kakiage – tempura of mixed shredded vegetables.  It’s so easy to make!

Thinly slice onion and carrot (and chopped spring onion or shredded burdock roots if you want).  Coat with tempura batter, and drop into hot oil using two spoon to make a round shape.  Make it flat, so that the tempura get cooked through and crispy.

To see how to cook soba noodle, refer here.

<Soup>

  • 1.5cup water
  • 1 handful bonito flakes (about 10g)
  • 1 tbs mirin
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
– how to make –
  1. Place water and bonito flakes in a small sauce pan.  Bring to the gentle simmer, and turn down the heat to low.  Simmer for about 5 minutes.
  2. Drain the bonito flake and keep the soup.  Return the soup to the pan, and add mirin and soy sauce.  Bring to the gentle simmer and simmer for 5 minutes.
The oil from the crispy tempura gives the nice flavor to the soup (^-^).

7 Comments on “Tempura Soba”

  1. 1 Kathy said at 4:19 pm on September 25th, 2010:

    I’m much more of a soba person – I think it’s because I don’t like thick noodles or pasta.

    I like 緑のたぬき more than 赤いきつね but sometimes I have a craving for both!

  2. 2 umepontarou said at 5:17 pm on September 25th, 2010:

    Kathy,

    I normally eat udon more often than soba, but when it comes to this cup noodle I prefer Midori-no-Tanuki to Akai-Kitsune. I just love the tempura inside 🙂
    But, I also like the AGE (beancurd)… Yeah,they are both great !

    I miss Japanese cup noodles..

  3. 3 Kathy said at 3:25 am on September 26th, 2010:

    AGE♂AGE♂?!? (^v^)

    I miss Japanese cup noodles too….I think it’s silly that they don’t allow them to be imported because they contain egg. The egg is cooked!

    I like to keep my tempura crunchy so I don’t put it in the cup when I pour in the hot water. I just dip it in when I’m eating. Am I strange?

  4. 4 YL said at 2:43 pm on September 27th, 2010:

    They have the same cup noodles here! I think they used to sell it in perth? Check out Maruyu. I believe they still have it there?

  5. 5 umepontarou said at 8:18 pm on September 27th, 2010:

    Kathy,

    I think it not only the egg but also they contain some animal fat or something (in the soup) 🙁

    How you eat the tempura cup noodle is exactly how people eat in Japan too. Or, people who like soft tempura put in the cup before pouring hot water.
    The eating direction is written on the package 🙂

  6. 6 umepontarou said at 8:20 pm on September 27th, 2010:

    YL,

    How come Sydney can import this noodle and Perth can’t??
    It’s really strange…

    I think I’ve seen the similar cup noodle at Nippon Food, so Maruyu may also sell this item. But, it was super expensive!
    In Japan it’s about 99 yen (around $1.00) but here it was around $6.00 🙁

  7. 7 karen said at 3:54 pm on October 10th, 2010:

    hmmmmm I LOVE SOBA!!!


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