This dish can be made so quickly and create a balanced one-pot meal. I love the deep flavor of hatcho miso which is a dark miso. The flavor is almost chocolaty. Once the udon noodles are par-cooked, all the ingredients are cooked in one donabe. I like vegetables and tofu in this dish, so this dish is completely vegan. But, if you like, you can also enjoy this dish with an addition of meat. Chicken or duck slices are particularly good.
Here is another cold noodle dish with the classic topping combination of salmon roe and grated daikon (“ikura oroshi” – the other dish I posted with the combo is with cold soba and you can find a link here). This is served over udon and the broth is rich in dashi with a refreshing accent with yuzu juice and rice vinegar. The broth is so soothing, so you can drink it up, too.
You can make your own variations with different toppings such as chicken tender, roasted vegetables, wakame, eggs, or anything you like. I also like it with grilled eggplant!
This cold udon dish has a very tasty and refreshing broth made of soymilk and golden sesame paste. It’s poured over the udon and really makes the dish so special. For this broth, I use my Dashi Shoyu (rich dashi-flavored soy sauce) as a base seasoning. This Dashi Shoyu is extremely versatile and can be used it on its own as a seasoning for sautéed dish or can be mixed other liquid (can be just water) to make a broth or a sauce. So, I keep my Dashi Shoyu in my fridge always. Once you make a batch of it, you can keep it for up to a month or even longer.
The toppings can be basically anything you like, so you can be creative.
I love cold udon as much as cold somen especially in the summertime. It would depend on the type of udon, but cold udon usually has the nice bouncy texture and it’s also smooth when it goes through the throat. Serving cold udon in a donabe with some ice cubes not only makes a beautiful presentation, but with the porous donabe body gets insulated, it can keep the noodle very cold for extended time.
For this dish, I served the same rich sesame sauce which I introduced in the cold somen recipe. This is a versatile sauce and has nice nutty flavor with natural sweetness coming from the combination of the Golden Sesame Paste and Saikyo Miso.
Enjoy with your choice of toppings. I also like it with canned saba (Japanese mackerel). I usually bring back a very nice kind from Japan.
This vegan treat is so easy to make and very satisfying. You just prepare the dashi broth for the udon in the bottom bowl of the Mushi Nabe, set the steam grate on top to steam the vegetables first. Once the vegetables are ready, remove the grate and cook the udon in the broth. Because the vegetables are steamed, they tend to retain more nutrients and taste very pure. The ginger-scented broth stays also very clear and the flavor is so rich in kombu‘s umami. So, this is a win win dish. In this recipe, I used Bistro Mushi Nabe, but you can make this dish with any donabe which is equipped with a steam grate. Adjust the recipe amount according to your size of donabe.
This simple vegan hot pot is so rich in flavor and satisfying. I like to slice the abura-age very thin, as these slices soak up the broth and taste like juicy noodles. If you don’t have access to abura-age, thinly-sliced tofu can work, too. The key for the rich broth flavor is to add the mushrooms before heating up the kombu-soaked water, so the mushrooms release all the umami flavors during the slow heating process. For the shime (finishing course), I like to add udon noodles to the remaining broth, but soba is also good, too.
