Recipe: Soba Dipping Sauce

It's summer. It's warm. (Yes, even here in England.) Therefore, it's time to eat cold noodles.

(Can you tell I'm going on holiday in less than 12 hours, and attempting to write the world's shortest blogpost on soba dipping sauce?)

So without further ado, I bid you au revoir for now. If you're an oyster in the south of France, watch out. I'm coming your way.

Recipe: Soba Dipping Sauce
Adapted from Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji

Ingredients

• 500ml dashi 
• 4tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2tbsp mirin
• 1tbsp sugar
• Katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flakes) - a handful

Mix the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a smallish pot. Bring to boil.

Add the katsuo-bushi and remove pot from heat. Wait a bit (Tsuji says 10 seconds, but 30 won't hurt either), then strain the sauce.

Let sauce cool to room temperature.

[Storage: Tsuji claims that dipping sauce can keep 'several months refrigerated'. My tupperware grew mould inside the lid after a few weeks. Maybe you'll have better luck.]

[For the terminally lazy: you can also buy soba dipping sauce in Japanese supermarkets.]

Comments

[Sasa]

Happy holiday! I'm back from a couple of weeks in Italy for 10 days before my next trip to Greece (life of a teacher - lots of hols! No money!) and will definitely be eating some soba - the taste of summer for me too.

[Ninette]

I love zarusoba, and I haven't had it for years! I think I'll have to make it now. Thanks!

[Heidi]

I am terminally lazy - but this sauce looks relatively easy to make, so I'm going for broke. Thanks for sharing!

[The London Foodie]

Zaru soba is so fantastic, and the best diet food ever. I have been meaning to write about it, it is a shame that it is not more widely available. Well done you!

Luiz @ The London Foodie

[Antonis]

I wonder if the mould you experienced was the result of plastic as opposed to glass? Or the result of not cleaning and drying the container just before storage?

According to The Book of Soba (Udesky, 1988) the ideal is to store the base separate from the dashi. The base will keep, assuming not even a drop of water gets in the clean glass container, while the dashi needs to be made fresh and does not keep.

My experience is that my own dipping sauce (similar to your recipe) has done fine refrigerated for 3 weeks in a glass jar. In fact it tasted better today than when I first made it. I believe there is some mellowing that takes place over time (or so says Udesky).

[Bob]

Actually, you keep the base for many years in the refrigerator. Heat it each time it's used, and replenish ingredients as they get used.