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morsels45 said

Zaru soba

Cold buckwheat noodles on a bamboo mat, dipped a few at a time.

Zaru soba
Photo: FotoosVanRobin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. A photo of the dish, not of these exact recipes.

That was somebody else’s answer. Yours takes about twenty seconds: a handful of either-ors, then one dish.

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How to make zaru soba

2 genuinely different takes — a classic, and a faster or lighter route. The same ones the app hands you once you have decided.

With proper tsuyu

20 minutes · serves 2 · Easy

What you need

  • 200g dried soba
  • 300ml water
  • 10g kombu
  • 15g bonito flakes
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 spring onions, sliced thin
  • Wasabi
  • Nori, shredded

What you do

  1. 1Steep the kombu in cold water for 20 minutes, bring it almost to a boil and lift it out.
  2. 2Add the bonito, take it off the heat, wait 2 minutes and strain. Stir in the soy and sugar. Chill it.
  3. 3Boil the soba in a lot of unsalted water, 4 minutes, and taste one — they overcook fast.
  4. 4Rinse under cold water, rubbing them with your hands to get the starch off. This is not optional.
  5. 5Drain hard, pile on a mat or a plate. Nori on top, dipping sauce and condiments alongside.
  6. 6Dip only the bottom third. Do not drown them.

Bottled sauce, ten minutes

10 minutes · serves 1 · Very easy

What you need

  • 100g soba
  • Bottled mentsuyu, diluted as the bottle says
  • Spring onion
  • Wasabi

What you do

  1. 1Boil, rinse cold, drain.
  2. 2Dilute the sauce, add the onion and wasabi. Done.