Tempura Soba (Prawn & Vegetable Tempura)

Posted January 10th, 2016 in Food | 2 Comments »

tempura-soba

A summer staple food in Japan – cold soba noodle with dipping sauce.  Great to eat in a hot day!

There are few different types of noodle you can use for this “cold noodle + dipping sauce” dish.  Soba, udon, somen, and chu-ka noodle.  What are the differences?

Soba is made of buckwheat, and is grey-ish colour.  Somen is very thin white Japanese noodles made of wheat flour, less than 1.3 mm in diameter.  Udon is a type of thick wheat flour noodle.  Chu-ka noodle is egg noodle which is often used for ramen.

At my house in Japan I used to eat udon a lot.  I seldom ate soba while I was in Japan (and now still) – I’m not sure why it is, but I guess it’s because people near Kansai in Japan eat more udon than soba noodle for some reason.

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Here in Perth I got some cha-soba noodles from a local Asian shop.  Cha-soba noodles are soba noodles made from buckwheat and wheat flour with the added ingredient of fresh green tea leaves.  You can smell green tea aroma from the noodle and they are really refreshing.

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To accompany cha-soba noodles, I made some kakiage (mixed vegetables tempura) with chopped prawn.   If you have tempura flour it’s super easy to make, but even if you don’t, it’s not that difficult.

Here is the recipe for prawn kakiage:

<Recipe> makes about 10 kakiage

  • prawn (no shells & heads) … 1/2 cup
  • chopped vegetables (I used onion, zucchini) … 1/2 cup
  • plain flour … 3 tablespoons
  • corn flour … 1 tablespoon
  • salt … 1/4 teaspoon
  • water … 50ml (or adjust the constancy)

 

  1. Chop prawns.
  2. Mix flour, salt and water in a mixing bowl. Add the prawns and vegetables and stir.
  3. Heat oil in a shallow frying pan (about 3 – 5cm) to 170℃.
  4. Using two spoons, carefully drop the tempura mixture into the oil.  Fry over medium heat for both sides.
  5. Serve with cooked cold soba noodles.

 


NEUGO Japanese Store in Perth

Posted January 2nd, 2016 in Japanese Stores in Perth | 2 Comments »

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There’s a new shop in Coventry Village selling 100yen items from Japan.  Some stores such as Fuji Mart in Subiaco sells 100yen items as well, but this store NEUGO sells Seria brand.

Seria is one of 100yen shops in Japan, just like Daiso and CanDo, and has many shops across Japan.  I love the brand image of Seria and its items as its theme is “natural” “European taste” .   Very cute.  They, of course, also sell some Japanese plates & cups which are made in Japan, as well as some Japanese food & drinks.   I just love their variety.

At NEUGO, the store looks pretty clean and tidy.  All items are arranged according to their categories such as “cleaning”, “kitchen”, and “bathroom”, which is easy for customers to find where items are.

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I haven’t been back to Japan for 1.5 years and it wasn’t difficult for me to find something I want to buy there.  For example, this small scissors with magnet is perfect for the fridge.  Super strong suction-cup hook (comes with 4) looked handy too.

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All items are $2.80 each, and until 31/Jan/2016 they are doing $5.00 off (with a minimum purchase of $20).  You can find this discount voucher inside the store.

With 1500 different products to chose from, anything you need for unique lunchbox making and handy cleaning items, you may find them here.

NEUGO Tokyo Style
Shop 130, Coventry Village, Morley WA
0452 535 528
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