Kake Udon (Plain Udon in Clear Dashi Broth)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 22 min
- Level
- Easy
- Servings
- 2 servings
- Ingredients
- 7
About this dish
It is just udon in a broth of bonito flakes and kombu, topped with a few slices of kamaboko fish cake and some scallion.
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Nearly all the work goes into seasoning that broth so it stays clear and light rather than salty.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Shake excess water from the scallion and slice it finely.
Set the four fish cake slices near the bowls, then bring a generous pot of water to a boil so the noodles and broth can finish hot together.
- 2
Pour 700 ml of dashi into a saucepan and warm it over medium heat until steam rises.
Keep it just below a hard boil, because vigorous boiling dulls the clean aroma that defines this simple broth.
- 3
Add 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon mirin, and 0.3 teaspoon salt, then warm for about 1 minute.
Taste a spoonful and adjust only lightly, keeping the broth clear, balanced, and not overly salty.
- 4
When the water is boiling hard, add 300 g udon noodles and loosen them gently with chopsticks for about 2 minutes.
Stop as soon as the strands separate and feel springy, before they turn swollen or soft.
- 5
Drain the noodles quickly in a strainer and transfer them to warmed bowls.
Do not rinse them under cold water here, because the dish depends on hot noodles meeting hot broth without cooling the soup.
- 6
Pour the hot broth over the noodles, then top with the fish cake slices and scallion.
Serve at once, before the noodles absorb too much broth, so the surface stays smooth and the bite remains chewy.
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