Today, I’d like to share with you how to make Sanji’s special soba from One Piece Ep.920. Soba is also a traditional Japanese dish, so please give it a try.
Types of Noodle
There are many different types of soba. There are dried noodles, fresh noodles, and semi-fresh noodles, and you can choose the one you like best. There is also a big difference in the amount of buckwheat flour it contains. The soba used by Sanji in One Piece is called Ni-hachi Soba (Ni means 2 and Hachi means 8), which contains 20% wheat flour and 80% buckwheat flour.
The higher the ratio of buckwheat flour, the better the aroma of buckwheat can be enjoyed.
In other countries, it is easy to get dried soba noodles. It also lasts a long time, so it is easier to use. In areas where Japanese food is readily available, fresh noodles are also sold. It is a good idea to enjoy the difference in texture and aroma of the noodles.
Soba Soup
Soba soup (“Men-tsuyu”) is necessary when making soba noodles and it has a very important role in the taste of soba.
There are three ways to make men-tsuyu.
- You can make it by carefully making dashi stock.
- If you are not comfortable or do not have time to make dashi from scratch, you can use instant dashi stock and season it with soy sauce and mirin.
- You can also buy soba soup base, men-tsuyu, at supermarket. This is the easiest way to make it.
If you’d like to make vegan soba soup, you can find a recipe below.
Information
| PREP TIME: 30 mins | COOK TIME: 10 mins | TOTAL TIME: 40 mins |
| COURSE: Main Course | CUISINE: Japanese | SERVINGS: 2 people |
Ingredients
- 2 servings soba noodle I used dried noodle
Soba Soup (Bonito & Kombu Dashi Broth)
- 650 ml dashi
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tbsp cane sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
Vegan Soba Soup (Kombu & Shiitake Mushrooms Dashi Broth)
- 650 ml water
- 1 piece kombu (4″ x 4″ or 10cm x 10cm)
- 2 pieces shiitake mushrooms
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tbsp cane sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
Toppings
- 50 g boiled spinach
- 4 slices fish cake
- 3 tbsp tempura bits
Tempura Bits
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2½ tbsp water
- ½ tsp vinegar I used apple cider vinegar
Instructions
To make soba soup
Add soy sauce, sugar, and salt to the soup stock (see link above) and heat over medium heat until it comes to a light simmer.
*To make vegan soba soup
- In a medium pot, add water, kombu, and dried shiitake mushrooms. Steep for at least 30 minutes.
- Remove the shiitake mushrooms.
- Bring it to a simmer.
- Right before boiling, remove the kombu. Scoop out any bubbles or scum floating on the surface of the broth with a small fine mesh strainer.
- Add soy sauce, sugar, and salt and heat over medium heat until it comes to a light simmer.
To prepare toppings
Squeeze out the water from the boiled spinach and cut into 5cm / 0.96 inch lengths.
Cut the fish cake into 1cm pieces.
Make tempura bits. In a small bowl, mix flour, water, and vinegar well.
After heating your favorite vegetable oil to 170 degrees, use a brush, chopsticks, or your hands to drop the dough into the oil so that it forms small balls.
When they are crispy, scoop them up with a spoon and drain the oil on paper towel.
To boil soba
Boil a large pot of water (2liters / 86oz) for boiling the soba noodles. Also, heat 1 liter (34oz) of water in a separate pot. Put soba noodles into 2 liters of hot water and stir well.
If the buckwheat flour content is high, the water level will gradually rise along with the bubbles. If you add a small amount of water or adjust the heat, it will not overflow, so don’t be panic!!
Boil according to the directions on the package. After boiling, rinse off the wetness from the buckwheat noodles under running water.
Put the noodles back into the hot water that has been heated separately.
To serve
Drain the water from the soba in a strainer and serve it in a donburi bowl.
Pour soup over noodles and top with spinach, fish cake, and tempura bits.
