← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 50 g plain flour
• 50 g Strong bread flour
• 50 ml Water
• 1.2 l water, for the dashi
• 20 g niboshi (dried sardines), heads and guts removed
• 1 piece kombu (about 10 cm)
• 200 g kabocha squash, seeded, cut into 3 cm chunks, skin on
• 100 g Daikon radish, cut into thin quarter-moons
• ½ Carrot, cut into thin half-moons
• 1 Potato, cut into chunks
• ¼ Onion, sliced
• 2 napa cabbage leaves, cut into pieces
• 2 Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Aburaage (thin fried tofu sheets), cut into strips
• 150 g thinly sliced pork, cut into bite-size pieces (optional)
• ½ Leek, sliced on the diagonal
• 4 tbsp Miso paste
• 2 tbsp Sake
• 1 tbsp Mirin
• shichimi togarashi, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Soak the niboshi and kombu in the water for 30 min. Then heat slowly and simmer gently for 10 min, skimming, and strain. You need about 1 litre of dashi.
2. Meanwhile, make the noodles: mix both flours with the water and knead for 5 min into a smooth, firm dough. Wrap and rest for 30 min.
3. Roll the dough out on a well-floured board to about 3 mm thick, fold it loosely and cut into 1 cm wide ribbons. Toss in flour to stop them sticking.
4. Bring the dashi to a simmer in a large pot. Add the pork, daikon, carrot and potato and cook for 8 min.
5. Add the kabocha, onion, shiitake, fried tofu and cabbage, then shake off the excess flour and drop in the raw noodles. Simmer for 10–12 min, stirring gently now and then, until the noodles are tender and some of the kabocha has collapsed into the broth.
6. Dissolve the miso in a ladle of broth and stir it in with the sake, mirin and leek. Simmer for 2 min more; the stew should be thick and glossy.
7. Ladle into deep bowls and sprinkle with shichimi.

Tips

• The noodles go in uncooked and unsalted, so their flour thickens the broth: that is what makes hōtō special.
• Skip the pork and use kombu and shiitake dashi for a vegetarian pot.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan