Udon soup with bonito dashi is just the thing for a quick weekend lunch. For this udon soup we use bonito dashi powder to make the dashi soup stock. It give such a rich umami flavor to the soup stock without having to make dashi from scratch.

Bonito dashi brings me sense memories of Japan

The first time Chi Chi took me to Japan, over 10 years ago now, I was still a vegetarian. However, there was one ingredient that I was drawn too and could not resist. It was the bonito dashi. The smell of bonito dashi brings back all of those memories of my first time in Japan. Bonito dashi is part campfire, part ocean. I remember asking Chi Chi, what is this flavor that I taste? What is this campfire sent I smell everywhere? He would just wink, and say, the essence of Japan. Not long after I realized how much I loved bonito dashi, I let go of defining myself as a vegetarian.

Dashi packs deliver an authentic umami flavor

When we make udon soup with a bonito dashi stock, we like to use the Kayanoya Original Dashi Stock Powder. It comes in little individual tea bags and it’s as easy as placing the dashi “tea bag” into your stock to create the rich, smoky umami dashi flavor so ubiquitous in Japanese cooking. Dashi is a broth that serves as the base for many different Japanese dishes and is what creates the umami taste. It can be made with kombu seaweed, dried mushrooms, bonito, and sardines.

出し　

Dashi: Umami Broth

Two ways to enjoy udon soup with bonito dashi

There are two different ways you can enjoy udon soup. Either add all of your udon noodles directly to the dashi broth and eat the hot udon soup quickly. Or, you can eat zaru udon style, which is cold udon noodles that you dip one bite of at a time into the dashi soup stock. Zaru udon dashi stock can be served cold or room temperature. It all depends on what you are in the mood for. We like to make the cold (zaru) dashi udon noodles during the hot summer months and then make a warming bowl of hot udon soup in the winter.

Udon soup toppings make each bite unique

We love to offer several different toppings to add to our udon soup. We often have several of these common toppings: katsuobushi, chopped green onion, grated fresh ginger, wasabi, shiso, ume, nori flakes, tenkasu tempura sprinkles. Similar to how we do our Temaki Handroll meals, these ingredients are placed on the table and each person gets to decide which toppings to add to their udon noodle soup. Make your udon soup spicy with wasabi and ginger or sweet with ume plum. Give the dashi soup a smoky flavor with bonito katsuobushi or make it light and herbal with green onion and shiso leaves. Add a crunch with tenkasu or nori flakes, or tempura. There are so many topping options, that udon soup can start out as one meal and end up as something completely different. Choose your own adventure.

Udon Soup with Bonito Dashi

Recipe by BeckiCourse: lunch, dinner

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• Bonito Dashi Soup Stock

• 6 1/2 cups water

• 4 packets of Kayanoya Original Dashi Stock Powder

• 3 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp mirin

• Udon Noodles

• 4 rolls of dry udon noodles

• 10 cups water

• Ice (if making zaru / cold udon noodles)

• Udon Noodle Soup Toppings (choose what you like):

• Katsuobushi

• ume plum

• wasabi

• shiso (finely chopped)

• chopped green onion

• grated fresh ginger

• nori (cut into small sticks)

• tenkasu tempura sprinkles

• tempura shrimp and/or veggies

Directions

• To make the bonito dashi stock bring water to a boil. Once boiling remove pot from heat and add Dashi Stock packs, mirin and soy sauce. Remove the Dashi Stock packs after 2 minutes and discard.
• To cook the udon noodles, in a separate pot, bring water to a boil. Add noodles, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until cooked through but not too soft. Strain and udon noodles.
• If making noodles Zaru (cold), plunge udon noodles into a large bowl of ice. Once cold, place on a plate or a Zaru Tray. Pour bonito dashi stock into smaller bowls for each serving (add ice to dashi if desired).
• If making hot udon noodle soup, bring bonito Dashi Stock to a boil. Pour into bowls and then add the udon noodles.
• Place all of your udon noodle toppings in separate bowls or on plates. Add ingredients to dashi stock as desired.
• Enjoy!