Poslfit Recipes: Zarusoba

If you have neither mirin nor saké, you could use dry sherry in place of saké. If you have no katsuobushi, make a fairly strong fish or clam stock and then add the boiled mirin and soy sauce. If you do have katsuobushi, make sure you don't let it boil for any length of time. If you're a peon, you can make the taré by diluting a bottle of concentrate. If you don't have soba, you can't make zarusoba.

This is a basic recipe that can be enhanced based on your tastes and the contents of your fridge. Finely chopped green onions, wasabi and raw quail eggs are commonly offered for addition to each serving of taré. Nori is often cut into slivers and sprinkled on the soba. Tempura is often served so that you can dip it in the taré too; we use up any leftovers from the previous night's barbecue (salmon, grilled vegetables) straight from the fridge.

Bring mirin to a boil to evaporate alcohol content.

Add water, soy sauce and katsuobushi, bring back to a boil and then simmer for two minutes.

Remove from heat and strain, and now you have a taré (dipping sauce). Take the tare (dipping sauce) that you have just made and let it cool to room temperature. You can refrigerate it up to 24 hours before serving.

In another pot, and most likely at the same time as the taré, cook soba according to package directions, being careful not to let it stick, boil or overcook. When done, drain immediately and rinse under cold water.

Serve each person a small bowl of taré, place the soba on a flat plate, ideally on a sieve (zaru) for drainage. Dip soba in taré one mouthful at a time.