Somen noodles take only 1½ minutes to cook, so they are an ideal summer noodle dish. Cooked somen noodles are served in a little pool of water with ice cubes in a serving bowl. The dipping sauce is a mixture of dashi stock, shoyu, and mirin. If you don’t have mirin, use sugar. Pick a small bite-sized portion with chopsticks from the bowl, gently swing the noodles up and down, and shake off excess water before dipping into the sauce. Grated ginger is always the best accompaniment to somen. In this dish, I garnish the noodles with tomato, shishito pepper (quickly shallow-fried), thin omelet, and cucumber. If fresh red shiso leaves are available, add them. Like ginger, shiso has body-warming properties, so it is ideal to consume with cold dishes. Ginger and shiso also have antimicrobial properties- a must-have summer herb! Have you cooked sweet, simmered shiitake and kept them in the freezer? Defrost, cut it into thin slices, and add to the dish. Ingredients (2 servings) ½ cup + 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons (160 ml) dashi stock 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons (40 ml) shoyu (soy sauce) 2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons (40ml) mirin or 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar 1 medium-sized ripe tomato 1 Kirby cucumber Sea salt 10 shishito peppers Cooking oil Thin omelet (half recipe) 2 bundles of somen noodles Grated fresh ginger and red or green shiso as garnish Instructions Add the dashi stock, mirin or sugar, and shoyu in a small pot and bring it to a simmer. Turn off. When using sugar, stir the liquid and dissolve the sugar. Let the sauce cool. If you need more sauce, use 4 parts dashi stock, 1 part shoyu, and 1 part mirin. Cut the tomato into small bite-sized pieces. Roll the cucumber over a pinch of salt sprinkled on the cutting board until the outside brightens green. Wash off the salt and cut it into the same size as the tomato. Puncture several places on the skin of the shishito pepper with a toothpick. Wipe them dry with a paper towel. Heat half an inch of oil in a small skillet or pot. When it is hot, add the shishito pepper. Roll them over in the heated oil over medium heat until the blisters develop on the outside. Drain the shishito peppers on a paper towel. Prepare a thin omelet according to the recipe. Cut the thin omelet into julienne strips. Bring plenty of water in a large pot to a boil over high heat. Add the somen noodles, and quickly stir the noodles so that none of them are stuck together. After 1 ½ minutes of cooking, drain and add to cold water with ice cubes in a medium bowl. When it is cool, rinse the noodles under cold tap water. Drain the noodles and transfer to a bowl with some water. Shake off the water from the noodles and arrange them on the serving plates. Garnish the plate with the tomato, cucumber, omelet, and shiso leaves. Serve the noodles with a dipping sauce and grated ginger on a mini plate. Slurp!
