luna_rainbow (luna_rainbow) wrote,
luna_rainbow
luna_rainbow
  • Mood: content

tsukemen/mentsuyu recipe

I spent yesterday (okay, not the whole of yesterday) standing in front of an aisle in a Japanese food store and staring at the mayonnaise section and looking at their smallest bottle (200mL) thinking "kawaii~~~" It's all Hijikata's fault ==; I keep thinking that I should buy it and then I realise I don't make anything to eat it with, and I'm not sure topping my fried rice or fried noodles with mayonnaise will be good for my blood vessels or, in fact, for my fond feelings for his character. LOL. Honestly though, I think it shouldn't taste bad with chahan and yakisoba, although obviously not in the same amount Hijikata squirts on. Maybe I'll get it next time I have time to make omuraisu. Japanese mayo is sweeter, oilier(?) and less sour than the western salad mayo so it's not that bad.

Anyway, recently I've been addicted to tsukemen~ Namely because once you've made the sauce you can keep it in the fridge and you just need to boil up some noodles every time. It's a great summer food because you're eating it cold.

I actually don't know what normal/standard mentsuyu (the soy sauce you dip tsukemen in) tastes like, but this recipe works well enough for me. I find I keep having to check up the original Japanese recipe and then work out all the numbers again, so I'm just going to write it up here ==;

Ingredients (Makes more than enough for 2)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup mirin (sweet wine)
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons hondashi (or any dashi...or just use chicken salt)
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon vinegar (I also chucked in some Worcestershire sauce for good measure, because I need to use it up ==;)
- salt
- 1/2 tablespoon chilli oil (I usually leave this out)
- 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
- wakame (seaweed)
- half a stalk of shallots
- a thin slice of onions (they keep very well if you wrap them in Gladwrap and refrigerate)
- a small clove of garlic


Sauce
1. Fry the shallots, onions and garlic in heated oil
2. Add soy sauce, mirin, water, dashi, sugar and vinegar, then add salt to taste. It does need to be salty because you'll be dipping your noodles in it.
3. Add the chilli oil and sesame oil if you like. I generally don't because I put quite a bit of oil for frying shallots/onions/garlic, but you do need a good amount of oil for it to stick well to your noodles.
4. Leave it simmering for 5 minutes, then add the wakame and take off heat. The wakame adds an extra layer of flavour.

I like the sauce warm so I microwave it when I reuse it.


Noodles
I'm finding soba (thin wheat noodles...you can get similar ones in Chinese and Korean shops) goes better with the sauce than ramen...then again, I've never been a huge fan of the taste of ramen =/ Soba is sweeter and is a nice contrast to the sauce. Just boil up the noodles "al dente", then run them under cold water. Boil vegetables and other stuff to go with the noodles.
Tags: food, gintama
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