A Japanese Inspired Soba Recipe

April is one of those months that teases. After cold winter nights and endless amounts of snow and frost, April is that month that whispers sweet nothings and tells you, soon, soon it'll all be over. She takes your hand and shows you the deep blue hyacinths and vibrant yellow crocuses, her sweet, blossom scented breath caresses your cheek.

And then, as you turn to meet her lavender eyes, she knees you in the crotch and punches you in the stomach with wild, blisteringly cold rain storms.

Heck, as I write this, sleet is bashing against our windows. Earlier this week, some of my students were wearing shorts.

This recipe is that warm blanket used on shock victims. Sink into its warmth and stay out of April's mood swings.

Soba with Beef and Onions in Shiitake Broth

(inspired by The Japanese Food Report)

Ingredients

3 cups water, divided
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
½ package (4g) dashi powder
4 tbsp soy sauce, divided
2 tbsp mirin
½ lb thinly sliced beef
1 medium onion, thinly sliced vertically
3 tbsp sake
2 tbsp sugar
4 oz dried soba noodles
shichimi spice powder to taste (Japanese 7 spice chili powder)
1 green onion, finely sliced

Directions

1. Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Soak dried mushrooms in water for 30 minutes. Remove mushrooms from liquid and set aside. Stir in 1½ cups water, dashi powder, 2 tbsp soy sauce and mirin. Bring to a simmer and keep warm on back burner while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

2. Cut rehydrated shittake mushrooms into 5-6 slices each.

2. Place beef, onion, mushrooms remaining soy sauce, ½ cup water, sugar and sake in a frying pan, and bring to a simmer. Let cook until beef is cooked, onion is meltingly tender and liquid is almost completely evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Cook soba noodles in a large pot of boiling water until al dente, between 6-8 minutes. Divide between two large bowl. Top noodles with beef mixture. Gently ladle broth over noodles. Garnish with shichimi and green onions.

A fundamental Japanese recipe: dashi

Dashi is at the heart of Japanese cooking. It's the snokey, fishy broth that makes up the base of soups, and really, seems to be added to just about everything. And yes, you can buy little MSG laced packages of dashi granules (the fishy equivalent to a beef boullion cube), but it's really easy to make your own - especially if you skip the fish part.

Vegetarian dashi consists of only two ingredients:

Konbu is kelp. I buy it in packages labelled "dashi konbu", which means it's in the perfect size for throwing into a pot. In the vegetarian version, the shiitake mushrooms add a pleasant earthiness and depth of flavour to make up for the lack of dried fish flakes.

And you know what's even better? If you're in a rush, you can make the stock in about 10 minutes.

How To

1. If you have a couple of hours on your hands, take one square of konbu and one shiitake mushroom.

2. Wipe the piece of konbu with a damp paper towel to remove some (though not all) of the white stuff on it. Then throw it and the mushroom into a pot of 4½ cups of cold water. Let it sit for 2 hours. That'll infuse the broth with even more of that pleasant seashore aroma that characterizes dashi.

3. Over high heat, bring the pot of water almost to a simmer. Keep it at this temperature for 4-5 minutes (don't let it boil!), then remove from heat and let sit a further 4-5 minutes. Remove and discard the konbu and the mushroom and voila! Dashi, ready for use.

 If you only have 10 minutes, skip the 2 hour soak and proceed directly to step 3.

Yes. It is that easy.