It’s getting colder, soup will be good tonight. My mother-in-law left us with some dried mushrooms from the Russian countryside that I’d like to use. I’ll make a Japanese-style broth with them—they have a delicate flavor so I don’t want to overwhelm them. I’ll beat a few eggs and swirl them into the soup as well. We bought sunchokes (or Jerusalem artichokes) from the farmer’s market and they will make a fine side, fried simply in sunflower oil. My daughter probably won’t eat the sunchokes,* but she’s already excited about the udon noodles and mushrooms.
- Udon noodles in broth made from dried mushrooms, dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sesame oil
- Sunchokes sliced and fried in a combination of neutral oil and sesame oil
- Garnish of green onions, cilantro, and shichimi (a Japanese spice mixture)
The plan:
I’ll make the dashi, add the dried mushrooms to it while it’s still hot, and wash the sunchokes this afternoon. At dinner time I’ll set the noodle water to boil and make the broth by heating the dashi with soy sauce and mirin to taste. While the broth is heating on the stove I’ll slice the sunchokes and fry them in a big skillet. I’ll also chop the green onion and cilantro. The udon noodles will only take a few minutes to cook: when they are done I’ll drain them and put them in a big bowl with some sesame oil. At the last minute I’ll whisk a few eggs with some salt in a bowl and swirl them into the hot broth.
We’ll bring the noodles and broth to the table separately so that everyone can assemble their soup as they like. This will also make it easier for my husband to bring the noodles for his lunch tomorrow.
- She loved them! Now that I know, I’ll cook them more often.