Udon/ Soba Noodle

It is getting cold, this makes me crave warm food. Udon and Soba noodles are very popular in Japan.

My papa loves soba noodles which contain high percent of soba seeds. Soba noodles are able to be sold if soba noodles contain over 30 percent soba seeds so some soba noodles might be made of almost flours. Therefore, if we want to eat delicious soba noodles, we have to find good restaurants around the mountains of Japan. It is said that good soba noodles need clean water. So when I go to the mountain with my family, we usually eat soba noodles, Especially as it is my Papa's favorite.

I remember that when I moved to Tokyo to start working as a nurse, my parents and I went to a soba noodle restaurant. It is tradition to eat soba noodles as part of a house warming. However, it is said that people presented some soba noodles to neighbors for greetings during the Edo period, but now people think that we eat soba noodles at new houses as japanese tradition.

Also, we usually eat soba noodles at night on New year's eve. These soba noodles are called Toshi koshi soba. We wish for longevity, good fortune, health and happiness. In Japan, families spend time together around the new years, just like Christmas here in Australia. Toshi koshi noodles remind me of family, and our time spent together..

Anyway, this is my story about Soba noodles.

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Udon/ Soba noodle soup is easy to make and it is nice to eat cold Udon/ Soba noodles in summer time as well.

Ingredients

• 600ml water

• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons of Mirin

• 1 tablespoon of cooking sake

• 0.5 tablespoon of fish stock

• 1 to 2 piece of chicken thigh fillets

• ½ carrot

• ½ onion

• 1 spring onion (unnecessary)

If you like add some bok choy, chinese cabbage, enoki mushroom

1. Cut chicken into small pieces, slice onion, cut carrot

2. Boil 600ml water in the pot. Also boil some water in another pot for boil noodles

3. Boil chicken and vegetable in the pot

4. When vegetable become soft, add all sauce

5. Tate soup. If you add watery vegetables such as bok choy, chinese cabbage,the taste of soup might become weak. Please adjust some soy sauce or fish stock. Make soup a little bit salty more than your preference because we will add noodles.

6. Boil some noodles. When it is ready, drain water and wash noodles to reduce stickiness.

7. Put noodles in a bowl and pour soup or put noodles into soup and boil it again.