Carrot tsuyu for hand-pulled somen noodles

Today somen, Japanese Summer chilled vermicelli, with two particularities.

I have finer and better noodles than average. They are more expensive because they are still made traditionally.

手延そうめん tenobe somen. Hand-pulled vermicelli noodles.
On the site of the brand 揖保乃糸Ibonoito (click here) you can see old prints of hand-making of these noddles. They have been introduced in Japan from China hundreds of years ago.

Here is a series of videos on how they are actually made now. Yes, there are 11 videos. Needless to say I’m not going to make mines so soon.

I have seen this in a shop. I made carrot juice to make the tsuyu (dipping sauce). I’ve simply added grate fresh young ginger and a little shoyu soy sauce to the juice.

Garnishing items : goya squash, red sweet chili, molokheya leaves, eringi tsukemono and tomato agar.
It’s called kake-somen or bukakke-somen when you pour the tsuyu on top.

Chilled shirataki noodles with black gomadare sauce

And advantage of shirataki (konnyaku noodles) is unlike other noodles, you don’t need to boil them again then chill. All you need is rinsing them in clear water.

The 4 elements of my dish.

A : rinse the shirataki noodles.

B : cut cubes of fresh tofu.

C : prepare veggies like bell pepper, red chili, goya, onion and coriander.

D : make the dressing.
Gomadare is the classic sesame dressing. Today it’s black as I’ve used black sesame and the black douchi :

Douchi, Chinese fermented black soy beans.

Fresh somen

The most refreshing food ever invented ?

A hot Summer Japanese lunch.

Somen :
These thin white wheat vermicelli are cooled and served in iced water.

Somen and tusyu (cool soup).

Toppings : Negi leeks, sesame, pickled ginger.

Cubes of firm tasty momen tofu.

Konnyaku sashimi with a vinegar miso sesame sauce.

Matcha soba, shiso pesto and veg’ freshness…

We’re getting into the days when you want to eat raw, cold, green, light…

Zaru soba is baaack ! It’s green because it’s matcha (green tea) flavored.
Click here for the soba compilation.

They are the perfect complement for :
shiso pesto.

The leaves are called “salad celery”, they have a very mild celery taste, aftertaste… well, they bring mostly color and fibers. The new onions have been salted, let overnight, rinsed. And the pink cubes are watermelon. Lots of crunchiness.

Red-freshment : fruity K-noodles

Chilled Korean noodles are often served with a mix of veggies, meat or seafood and a little piece of fruits.

Korean Gourmande (photo compilation of my Korean posts)

In this painful humid day, I craved mostly for the juicy fruits like watermelon…

… and the first figs of this year.

This gochujang does not only look like jam. It tastes like it !

It seems the shop makes its own. I got the kimchi there too.

Special fruity broth : tomato juice, water melon juice (when I cut, I had a lot on the plate), brown rice vinegar, a few drops of fragrant sesame oil.
Served with fresh tofu. Delicious and refreshing.
Really the weather gets me on the nerves at this point, but I feel calm after this meal.