Kake Udon
かけうどん·(kake udon)
O-kaze: When the Body Needs Healing
When you are exhausted, sick, or beaten down by a long Tuesday, there is nothing for the cook to hide behind here. A plain bowl of elemental udon—what they call su udon in the Kansai region—demands perfection in the simplest things: the chew of a flash-frozen Sanuki noodle and the golden ratio of a true dashi broth. Forget the laborious scratch stock; grab a premium dashi packet, lean on the freezer aisle, and let the sheer, unadorned umami put you back together.
Ingredients
- water2 1/2 cup
- premium dashi packets2
- soy sauce1 1/2 tbsp
- hon-mirin1 tbsp
- sugar1 tsp
- salt1/3 tsp
- frozen Sanuki udon bricks2
- scallion1 med
- kamaboko4 slice
- tenkasu2 tbsp
- shichimi togarashi1 pinch
Method
- 01
Brew the healing dashi.
In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil, drop in the dashi packets, and simmer over medium-low heat for 3 to 4 minutes before discarding the packets.
- 02
Season the broth.
Stir the soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and salt into the simmering dashi.
- 03
Perform the nikiri simmer to burn off the alcohol.
Increase the heat slightly to bring the seasoned broth to a gentle boil for exactly 1 to 2 minutes, leaving behind only the complex sweetness of the mirin, then turn the heat to low and cover.
- 04
Wake up the frozen noodles.
In a separate large pot of rolling boiling water, drop the frozen udon bricks in and let the heat gently unravel them for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, then drain thoroughly in a colander, shaking off excess water so you don't dilute the broth.
- 05
Assemble and serve.
Divide the hot noodles between two deep soup bowls, ladle the steaming broth over them until submerged, and top with the scallions, kamaboko, tenkasu, and a dash of shichimi togarashi.
Notes
Accept no substitutes for the noodles.
Standard vacuum-sealed udon packets in the Asian aisle yield a mushy, sour disappointment. Frozen Sanuki udon is the open secret of modern Japanese homestyle cooking; it is flash-frozen to preserve a perfect, bouncy chew.
The dashi shortcut.
Premium dashi packets like the Kayanoya brand are the weeknight weapon of choice here, offering artisanal flavor in minutes with zero cleanup.
Sourcing the soy sauce.
If you have access to an Asian grocer, look for Usukuchi (light) soy sauce to create a beautiful golden broth, though standard dark soy sauce works fine but will yield a darker mahogany color.
From Cook Japanese in America.