Friday Night Dinner

Apologies for the sporadic posting of late; I've been gearing up for another trip to Asia and trying to spend as much time as possible with my real-life nearest&dearest as I can. But missing you all! My soul, such torments to endure. :P

Comfort food is called for, so today I thought I'd dust off the camera and share one of my favourite summer suppers, the Japanese cold noodle dish zaru soba. Pick up some e-chopsticks and dig in :)

Admittedly not the quickest of things to whip up, but I find all the processes quite enjoyable, and careful timing, which is the most stress-inducing part of cooking for me, isn't a factor. Also, YUMMEH, which makes it all worth it.

At least an hour before, make the dipping sauce (I like to do this at least the night before, and make a big batch to store in the fridge -- it'll keep for a fortnight). This will make about 500ml of sauce or about 8 servings:

1. Make up a basic dashi stock however you like it (my usual ratio is a pint of water : a palm-sized piece of kombu : a small handful of bonito flakes, and a couple of dried anchovies for an extra umami hit), set aside.

2. Heat 100ml mirin with a tablespoon of sugar in a separate small pan until the sugar dissolves. Add 100ml soy sauce and turn the heat low, stirring gently for a minute or so to warm through. Then pour this mixture into the dashi from step 1 and simmer together gently for about 3 minutes. Cool. 

From here on the quantities make enough for four (or for two-greedy-people-with-leftovers -- I like rolling up leftover kakiage with some spicy mayo into maki for lunch):

Julienne Chop a large potato into chubby matchsticky bits and soak in cold water:

Noodles: Bring another pot of water to the boil, add a pinch of salt and cook your soba (100g per person) according to the packet instructions (usually 3-4 mins. Don't guess and overcook! You want them noodles so bouncy they chew back, not soggy strands). Look for the 100% buckwheat, salt-free stuff:

Drain and rinse well in cold running water until it resembles SLIMY WURMS:

Shake very dry, then plop onto fancy zaru (bamboo draining basket) if you have one. Or just use my sushi-mat-on-a-plate method, like an unspeakable savage *shifty eyes* Sprinkle some kizami nori over the top if you have any handy, and set aside.

Garnish: Finely slice a spring onion or two, and place into bowl along with some wasabi and toasted sesame seeds. I like to pour our everyone's dipping sauce at this point too.

All the cold ingredients ready, it's time for the kakiage:

Drain the potatoes you've been soaking and dry well in a clean tea-towel. Add a carrot and courgette (or two of each if they're small), chopped similarly:

For the batter: Measure 1 cup of flour (the higher the gluten content the better -- I used strong white flour but Italian 00 is even better; alas, I used up the last of that for a batch of choc chip cookies) into a biggish bowl, break an egg into the middle, and add a few good twists of salt and pepper. I've found the most reliable way of ensuring a crisp batter is to use very cold, fizzy water -- pour it in gradually, mixing well all the while, until you get a very thick, greek-yoghurt-ish texture. 

Toss in the veg, adding a little more flour and water if really needed (probably not --if there's no 'spare' batter at the bottom or the bowl that's ideal), and then pick up random clumps with chopsticks to fry at a moderate temperature, turning halfway through, until browned -- about 2 minutes per batch. [Can you tell I'm primarily a baker, rather than a cook? Persnickity about batter, vague when it comes to doing stuff with it. I use exactly the same exact method wot my grandma taught me, so pleeeease don't ask me about specific degrees of oil and thicknesses of pan and whatnot because I won't know XD]

Let everyone garnish their dipping sauce to taste...

And eat while the kakiage's still hot and crunchy, in perfect contrast to the chewy cold noodles and refreshing savoury sauce:

And for afters, my latest entropic failbake, a strawberry and almond crumble cake which, owing to my sins against ye ineffable gods of glutinous batter subsidence, ended up as crumbling cake. I should open a bakery called #presentparticiplepastries, yes?

Adapted from here, though I substituted orange flower water for vanilla extract, and almonds for walnuts. Still very edible, though very sweet -- next time I'd cut the sugar on the topping middling by at least 2/3rds.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!