Japanese Cold Soba - So Good

"In my hands I hold a bowl of Soba.

I see the goodness of nature represented in its colour.

Closing my eyes I find the freshness of green fields,

And the purity of nature within my heart."

Beautiful words uttered by Soba Master Yoshinori Shibazaki.

Soba is my Word of the Week for this week. If you're not convinced of the health benefits of Soba, go back and read that post. 

My son suggested to me that we get rid of all instant noodles in the house and replace them completely with Soba. What a brilliant idea. And as God would have it, the wretched aunty that I've become found out quite by chance that they are on a special this week in the supermarket. Only S$3.50 for 270g pack of organic soba and 200g of organic cha-soba (green tea buckwheat noodles). Hakubaku is one of the few brands to have its packaging in English since it's from Australia. What has Australia got to do with Japanese soba? Well, did you know Tasmania climate, which never exceeds 25 degrees C, offers one of the best places in the world for soba cultivation and storage?

His suggestion was inspired by my ban on ordering cold soba in Japanese restaurants we normally patronise. It's such daylight robbery by the restaurants to charge so much for cooking this 3 minute noodle, and no culinary skills needed - just boil water and cook the noodles like you would with pasta! You don't even need oil or salt as you sometimes do in pasta. Plunge them into ice cold water after 3 minutes to kill the cooking. 

Serve with Japanese shoyu - this is also the dipping sauce for the cold noodle and sprinkle with a Japanese sesame, salt and seaweed mix. Totally no frills, and just the way my kids like it. The restaurants here usually add a quail egg and sprinkle some spring onions to garnish.

 

I have to tell you about this hand painted - not machine-printed - Japanese fan we bought from Kyoto many years back. It costs more than US$50! It's one of those souvenirs from our travel that remind me of my early years with my dear husband - he would part with such money to support art and I would not. Enough said.

Soba is definitely going to be a regular in this household. How does cold soba on a hot day sound to you?