Tsukemen with the ramen kit, dipping noodles
Noodles rinsed in cold water, to dip in a more concentrated broth. And at the end, if you like, you top it up and drink it like a ramen.
Tsukemen was born as a staff meal. At Taishōken in Nakano, Tokyo, Kazuo Yamagishi ran the place and, when things got busy, ate like this: the noodles left in the strainer, dipped in a cup of ramen broth with soy sauce. He came from Shinshū, the land of soba, and ate them the way you eat zaru soba. On 1 April 1955 the dish went on the menu as «special morisoba», for 40 yen: five more than a ramen.
The name tsukemen, «dipping noodles», came in the 1970s, with a chain that put it on its sign.
Why it works: rinsed in cold water, the noodles stay firm and don't overcook. The broth, more concentrated than ramen broth, coats them at every bite, and it cools as you eat: you slurp without burning yourself. At the end you can do as they do in Tokyo: top up the leftover broth with hot water and drink it. It's called sūpu-wari.
Noodles rinsed in cold water, to dip in a more concentrated broth. And at the end, if you like, you top it up and drink it like a ramen.
- Active time
- 15 minutes
- Hands-off time
- As long as the water takes to boil
- Makes
- 1 person
You'll need
- A pot
- A colander
- A bowl of iced water
- A small bowl for the broth, with a saucer to cover it
- A plate for the noodles
Ingredients
- 1 Noodz ramen kit
- 150-180 ml of water for the broth
- ½ teaspoon of rice vinegar, if you like
- Water and ice
- 1 spring onion, green part only
- 1 sheet of nori seaweed
- Ajitama, if you have some
- Stir-fried mushrooms, if you fancy
The kit you use
Method
- Before you start
- Cut the green part of the spring onion into rings and the nori into rectangles, as big as the broth bowl.
- The broth
- Bring a pot of unsalted water to the boil. Wet the small bowl with a ladle of that water and pour it away: that way the bowl is hot and the broth doesn't cool as soon as you pour it in.
- Pour the concentrated broth into the bowl, then dilute it with 150-180 ml of boiling water from the pot and, if you like, add the rice vinegar. Cover it with a saucer so the broth stays hot.
- The noodles
- Cook the noodles in the remaining water for 5 minutes. Separate them only towards the end.
- Drain them, rinse them under cold running water and then a few seconds in iced water. Drain them well: any water left on them dilutes the broth.
- At the table
- Remove the saucer, add the spring onion and rest the nori against the edge of the bowl: as it softens it gives its flavour to the broth, and you eat it dipped along with the noodles.
- Put the noodles on the plate, with the egg and the mushrooms beside them, as a side topping.
- Take a few noodles with your chopsticks, dip them and slurp. A few at a time: the broth stays hot longer.
- When the noodles are finished, if you want to drink the leftover broth, top it up with 150-200 ml of boiling water heated in a small pan or a kettle.
Tips
- In winter, after the cold water, dip the noodles in hot water for a few seconds: they stay firm but reach the table warm. In Japan it's called atsumori.
- With Tori Chintan, try the rice vinegar: it makes the broth fresher and lighter.
- For the mushrooms: stir-fry them with a little Noodz Kōtare sauce, or with the leftover marinade from another dish made with Kōtare, like tofu or eggs.
