Soba: Encyclopedia II - Soba - Common Soba Dishes

Soba - Common Soba Dishes

Like many Japanese noodles, soba noodles are often served chilled in the summer and hot in the winter. They are traditionally eaten on New Years Eve Toppings are chosen to reflect the seasons and to balance with other ingredients. Most toppings are added without much cooking, although some are deep-fried. Most of these dishes many also be prepared with udon.

Hot

• Kake soba 掛け蕎麦 – Hot soba in broth topped with thinly sliced negi, and perhaps a slice of kamaboko (fish cake).
• Kitsune soba (in Kanto) or Tanuki soba (in Kansai) – Topped with abura age (deep-fried tofu).
• Tempura soba 天麩羅蕎麦 – Topped with various tempura items, especially shrimp.
• Tanuki soba (in Kanto) or Haikara soba (in Kansai) – Topped with tenkasu (deep-fried tempura batter).
• Tsukimi soba – Topped with raw egg, which poaches in the hot soup.
• Tororo soba – Topped with tororo, the puree of yamaimo (a potato-like vegetable with a slimy texture).
• Wakame soba – Topped with wakame, a dark green sea vegetable.

Cold

• Mori soba 盛り蕎麦 – Chilled soba noodles. The noodles are boiled, chilled, and then served on a flat basket or plate. Accompanied by a chilled dipping sauce, usually a strong mixture of dashi, mirin, and shoyu. Eaten with wasabi.
• Zaru soba 笊蕎麦 – Mori soba topped with shredded nori seaweed.
• Bukkake soba ぶっかけそば – Cold soba served with various toppings sprinkled on top, after which the broth is poured on by the diner. It may include:
  • tororo – puree of yamaimo (a Japanese yam with a slimy texture)
  • oroshi – grated daikon radish
  • natto – sticky fermented soybeans
  • okra – fresh sliced okra
• Soba maki – Cold soba wrapped in nori and prepared as makizushi.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Common Soba Dishes", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki