Soy Sauce Soba

Today we’re making Soba—Ramen’s less sexy cousin. If the McCarthy family were Japanese noodle soups, Ramen would be that hot blonde Immunologist/Playboy Playmate: Jenny, and Soba would be her thicker, more substantial cousin/female Chris Farley: Melissa. 

Soba is also probably better for you. The noodles are made from buckwheat, a more nutritious grain than that regular white flour used to make Ramen. If I wasn’t a “Carb Truther”, I’d make a big deal about the Glycemic Index and whole grains, but, that’s not my bag. To me (and science) a carb is a carb. Read all about it.

/rant. Let’s make some noodles.

Ingredients:

6 C water

2 T Mirin

½ C Soy Sauce

1 T Miso

½ t Ground Ginger

3 oz. Shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

1 T Sriracha or any chili paste

4 eggs 

2 oz Inari Age (that’s just that tofu skin you see at sushi joints. If you don’t have it, just use thinly sliced tofu.)

½ t sesame seeds

1 sheet Nori (that’s just seaweed)

8 oz Soba noodles

Sesame oil

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot, combine water, soy sauce, ginger, miso, Sriracha and shiitake. Stir, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes

2. Bring a small pot of water to the boil. Carefully, place the eggs (in their shells) in the water. Boil for 1 minute. Turn the heat off and let the eggs sit in the water for 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs, and transfer to a bowl filled with cold water.

3. Fill a medium pot with salty (like tears) water. Bring to a boil. Cook the noodles until al dente (3-5 mins)

4. Meanwhile, peel the shells off the eggs and slice each egg lengthwise.

5. Drain the noodles. Hit them with a little sesame oil to avoid clumping. Divide evenly among 4 bowls. 

6. Cover the noodles with the soy sauce broth and drop an egg in

7. Garnish with nori, inari age and sesame seeds

8. Slurp!