← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 750 ml Dashi powder or stock
• 4 tbsp red miso (or hatcho miso mixed with white miso)
• 3 tbsp Mirin
• 200 g Chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, halved
• 50 g shimeji mushrooms, separated
• 1 Japanese long onion or thin leek, white sliced on the diagonal, green finely sliced
• 1 Aburaage (thin fried tofu sheets), cut into strips
• 4 slices Kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) (optional)
• 2 portions of thick udon noodles (frozen, or dried and par-cooked)
• 2 Eggs
• shichimi togarashi, to serve

Method

1. In a small bowl, loosen the miso with a ladle of the dashi until smooth.
2. Bring the rest of the dashi and the mirin to a simmer in a flameproof clay pot or a medium saucepan. Add the chicken and simmer for 5 min, skimming off any foam.
3. Add the mushrooms, fried tofu and leek whites and simmer for 3 min, then stir in the miso mixture.
4. Add the udon and simmer for 3–4 min until hot and coated in broth, gently loosening the noodles. If using dried udon that you par-cooked, give it a few minutes more until just tender.
5. Crack the eggs into the middle, add the kamaboko and leek greens, cover and simmer for 2–3 min until the whites set but the yolks stay runny. The chicken should reach 75°C (165°F).
6. Serve bubbling in the pot with shichimi. In Nagoya the pot lid doubles as your plate for cooling the noodles.

Tips

• Nagoya noodles are cooked firm and chewy; take them off a little early if you like that bite.
• Once the miso goes in, keep the broth at a simmer rather than a hard boil to keep its aroma.

Sources

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

Just One Cookbook Sudachi Recipes