Bukkake Udon (Japanese Cold Noodles With Broth) Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you cook udon noodles in broth? ›

Make Udon Noodles

Take out another pot. Place in the Homemade Chicken Broth (1 cup), Water (1 cup), Tsuyu Sauce (4 Tablespoons). Then add in the chopped spring onion pieces as well as the chopped chicken pieces. Bring the pot back up to a boil.

Udon (うどん or 饂飩) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. There is a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a soup as kake udon with a mild broth called kakejiru made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin.

For the cold noodles that come without broth, like zaru udon, you will dip noodles into a separate sauce and then eat the udon. First, add wasabi and spices like green onions into the sauce. Then, take a few noodles with your chopsticks and dip the udon into the sauce. Don't leave the noodles in the sauce for long.

Tanuki Udon is a udon noodle soup dish usually served in a hot dashi broth and topped with tempura bits called tenkasu. However, during the summer months, this dish is often prepared cold. It's very refreshing and super easy to prepare.

To cook udon noodles, prepare a large pot of water. They already contain salt, so we do not need to salt the water (the same goes for soba noodles). Cook the noodles according to the package instructions.

Use broth or stock for added flavor

According to Eat This, Not That!, one tried-and-true Italian way to improve the flavor of your pasta is to boil it in stock. Originating in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, this simple trick will help season the noodles and deepen the flavor.

Udon served in a soup or sauce are enjoyed by using your chopsticks to lead the noodles into your mouth while making a slurping sound. The slurping enhances the flavors and helps cool down the hot noodles as they enter your mouth.

Udon noodles are typically made from wheat flour, water and salt, making them high in carbs and low in fat, vitamins and minerals. Make the healthiest udon dishes by choosing whole-wheat udon noodles and adding them into creations with vegetables and lean proteins.

Udon broths tend to be quite simple and light. Often you'll get a simple kombu (a delicious kelp, rich in umami) and fish dashi broth. Sometimes, udon might just be flavored with soy sauce. Ramen, on the other hand, focuses on rich broths that are exploding with umami and saltiness.

Standard Ways to Eat

"Zarusoba" (Cold soba): Rinse cooked soba noodles in cold water, drain, and serve on a dish. Served with cold dipping sauce. Eat by taking single mouthfuls and dipping in the cold dipping sauce.

Can you eat udon noodles without boiling? ›

You can just sprinkle cooked noodle with a little bit of soy sauce. You could eat it cold, or you can re-heat the noodle with boiling water.

The Japanese eat udon and soba with chopsticks. In the west, it is usually considered bad manners to make noise when eating, but in Japan, most people slurp the noodles.

What's the healthiest? While both dishes brim with flavor, Udon could be considered the healthier of the two noodle type dishes as it tends to have cleaner, simpler toppings and has lower sodium as it doesn't use kansui (the alkaline solution that gives ramen its unique flavor).

Udon noodles are considered fast food and found all over Japan, but the consumption rate of udon per household in Kagawa is three times more than the national average. Proclaiming themselves as the Udon Prefecture, udon culture is treasured by the people and you can find faucets that pour broth.

Udon noodles are made of flour, salt and water only, so the noodle itself does not have much flavor or taste. Udon is usually ate in soup, so the taste is up to the soup, often soy-sauce with dashi.

Boiling your pasta in chicken stock gives your pasta (and the resulting dish) more flavor. Feel free to experiment with any type you like, such as beef, vegetable, or even turkey. Chicken stock lends cooked pasta a subtle, somewhat meaty flavor that won't overwhelm the rest of your ingredients.

Noodles left to simmer in soup for too long become slimy and overly soft, and they can break down and make your soup too starchy. If you're adding them on reheating, you can add uncooked pasta after the soup is simmering steadily and cook it for 10 minutes or cook your pasta separately and add it just before serving.

If you're making a soup, you can cook the noodles directly in the broth. Add them just before serving and monitor closely to make sure they don't over-cook. Even with a bit of sesame oil, the noodles still tend to clump up after you drain them. They will loosen again once you mix the noodles into your dish.

For the best flavor and simplest technique, cook dry packaged egg noodles directly in the broth of your soup, without boiling separately in water beforehand. The exception to this is if you're making the soup ahead of time or cooking a very large batch.