Roasted Mushroom Soba

“Oh I miss eating this Japanese Soba which comes with a superior European twist!”

Like many chef experts, including Chef Jason, said, “Good food doesn’t have to be expensive food. Healthy & delicious food is good food.”

This Japanese noodle dish, is suitable for pure vegetarian as garlic wasn’t added to it.

This Japanese noodle dish, is simple and easy to assemble.

However, advance preparation of Dahsi cooking stock for the dish is needed. Long and tedious to do so, for commercial use (if you are cooking in large quantity for restaurant use), but to prepare just for the home cooking, you only need an hour or so to cook up the stock!

Let’s see:

Ingredients for Dashi stock:
50 gram of dried Kombu (or Konbu, 昆布), store-bought
50 gram of dried Shitake mushrooms, sliced
2500 ml of water

Ingredients for Roasted Mushroom
100 gram of fresh Shitake mushroom, sliced
100 gram of fresh button mushroom, sliced
1 packet of brown Shimeiji mushroom
1 packet of white Shimeiji mushroom
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of Olive oil

Ingredients for Soba:
250 gram of Soba noodle
2 tablespoons of Mirin rice wine (味醂)
2 tablespoons of Tamari soy sauce
2 tablespoons of Olive oil

For garnishing
Dried Nori seaweed (海苔), thinly sliced
Fresh Nori seaweed, thinly sliced
Fresh Daikon cress
Truffle oil (for a European twist to the dish)

Method:
1) Making of Dahsi cooking stock: Rinse and place Kombu in a pot of water over low heat. Simmer Kombu, with lid on, about 20 minutes. Remove Kombu from the pot and add dried mushroom to simmer (without covering pot with lid) for about 45 minutes. Heat off. Strain the mushroom out of the pot of stock. Keep the Dahsi stock for later.

2) Making of roasted mushroom: Cut the mushrooms into cube and do not wash the mushrooms. Mix seasoning to the mushrooms. Place them on the baking tray, and into oven to roast at 170 degree, for 30 minutes. Reserve roasted mushroom for later.

3) Cooking the Soba dish: Blanch Soba noodle in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

4) Heat frying pan with olive oil over medium fire. Add and sauté roasted mushrooms till its aroma releases. Pour in Dahsi, and let it simmer a little. Drizzle Tamari in stages (taste first before adding more to avoid excessive saltiness). Add Mirin and stir to combine all.

5) Return Soba to the frying pan. Loosen the strands in the stock and let it bring to a boil. Heat off. Dish up and garnish. Serve immediately.

Got the ingredients I need for the dish, and yet to cook it on my own. Will post the pictures on my Facebook, once cooked!

Tips: Remember to do a taste check of the stock after adding Tamari and Mirin. If it reaches your desired saltiness before using up all the Tamari, it’s OK to discard the balance. So as the Mirin for addition of sweetness to the stock.
* Use either dried mushroom or smoked mushroom to do the Dahsi stock. To smoke the mushroom, use the smoke gun or do it in oven or dry wok, wrapping it with aluminium foil and smoke for 30 minutes long. Add green tea for flavouring, if desired.
* Kombu is available at Japanese departmental store or the compartment of Japanese products in major supermarkets. I got a small packet of Kombu at NTUC Finest. A packet of 50 gram Kombu costs about $4.