Who’s up for noodles?

Well, not just any type of noodles actually.

The finer but just as elegant cousin of the udon noodle is the somen noodle. Often considered the queen of all noodles, because it originated from the aristocrats and hence is the nobility’s favourite noodle, somen is made similar to hand-pulled noodles. However, somen require a longer pulling and resting time. The noodles are made from wheat flour, salt and water. They are moistened with sesame or cottonseed oil to prevent their thin lengths from breaking. It is not difficult to find affordable packets of machine-made somen noodles in grocery stores or your Asian supermarket these days but handmade somen noodles, made the previous year, are most-prized. The reason for this is that handmade ‘overwintered’ somen changes texture as they dry out during storage and the oil on the noodles changes the noodles’s taste with time. It is recommended to wait a year before cooking handmade somen to really enjoy the flavour of somen.

Somen is the star of the show during Japan’s Star Festival in the summer. The festival of Tanabata is based on a famous Chinese legend about 2 lovers. Once a year, only on the evening of the 7th of July, the young cattleman, the star of Altair, is allowed to cross the Milky Way to meet his beloved - the weaver Vega. As a child, we’d celebrate this by placing handmade paper boats with a lighted candle on top of it on river surfaces and let it float along in hopes that all the lighted candles on the water surfaces can guide the weaver and cattleman to meet. Of course, it is not common to see anyone doing this anymore. At this time of the year, it is said that it’ll be difficult to spot any sparrow in sight as sparrows will be busy bringing the lovers together. In Japan, children used to decorate bamboo branches with their origami creations and tie coloured paper tags which bore their wishes. These decorated bamboos were then thrown into nearby rivers.

Somen noodles are usually served cold and eaten with a, similarly, cold dipping sauce. In winter, a variation of it called ‘nyu men’ is served in hot broth - and this is what I’ve prepared tonight. The house is absolutely freezing so there was no way in hell I was gonna pick out a cold somen salad recipe. When buying somen in supermarkets or grocery stores, somen are usually available in 3 appealing flavours : cha somen (addition of green tea), tamago somen (yellow due to egg yolk) and ume somen (pink from the addition of plum). Not only do they look great, they’re fabulous to the tastebuds too. I initially thought it wasn’t gonna be any different to regular somen but these ume somen packed a punch! The moment the somen is put in hot water, you can already start to smell the lovely fragrance of ume and the taste is even better. Slightly salty but definitely holds a distinctive ume flavour.

My choice of vegetable topping wasn’t anything greatly inspired but more about what was available in the fridge, and also at a near rotting stage. I haven’t come across a traditional nyumen recipe so this is something of a as-I-have-it nyumen demi-ramen broth recipe.

Check out Kimiko Barber’s The Japanese Kitchen for more info on somen and the Japanese noodle tradition. Here is my quick and easy recipe for 2.

Nyumen Fit For A Lady
Ingredients

2 servings of ume somen
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp ginger, sliced into thin strips
1 cup konbu dashi stock
2 cup chicken stock
1 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbs sesame oil
spring onions, chopped, for garnish (use the green and white bits near the ends of the stalk)
black sesame seeds, for garnish
various vegetables of choice, for topping (highly recommended to stir-fry them in butter)

To prepare the soup:
Place sesame oil in heated pan. Sauté ginger and garlic in oil. Reduce heat and add both types of stock to the pan. Let it boil then add sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar. Once it boils, reduce the heat and let it sit to simmer.

Boil sufficient water to cook the noodles in a large saucepan. Add the somen. The cooking time needed will depend on the type of somen noodles purchased. When done, strain noodles then run under cold water and keep in pan of cold water till other ingredients are done.

Stir fry vegetables of choice in butter.

To assemble:
Simple place somen in a bowl. Place toppings on and carefully ladle soup into the bowl. Garnish and serve whilst hot.