The Daily Grind, Chop and Fry

Yesterday was a big day, blog-wise. It was batch testing day, and I hired two great teenagers, Robert and Braden, who are aspiring chefs and are working like mad to earn money to go to Europe this spring. For more on that, go to the post on the Clearwater School’s blog about their trip. Anyway, I figured we made about ten things but I counted this morning and it was fifteen. We did a ton of dishes (thanks go to my son, who also ate his share of pancakes), taste tested commercial stock, went a little goofy in the Asian section of Central Market, chop chop chopped, said “needs more salt” a lot, and had a really good time. I was completely wiped out by 6:30, when it was time to serve dinner to ten people.

The main reason why we stopped at Central Market on the way to my house was to get the ingredients to make mentsuyu, the salty/sweet base for Japanese noodle soups. You can buy this already made by the bottle, but I really wanted to make my own. I’ll be posting the recipe for this base later, but the soup recipe has to go up right now because guests left with their own containers of the base. If you want to make this with the bottled base, go for it. Of all of the many things we ate last night, this was the clear favorite. I know my own family is going to be wanting it within the next few nights, and it is really easy to make.

Serves 2
Can easily be vegan

1/4 cup mentsuyu soup base (this is the amount for the home made base. If you are using store-bought base or memmi, follow the directions on the bottle for the base:water ratio.)
1 cup water
2 bundles udon noodles
2 eggs
1 tsp water
1/3 – 1/2 cup shitake mushroom pieces
1 package frozen chopped spinach defrosted in hot tap water
2 scallions thinly sliced
1/2 sheet of nori (dried seaweed)
Japanese red chili pepper (optional)*

Squeeze excess moisture from spinach.

Drop the udon noodles in a pot of boiling water. After approximately six minutes, drain the noodles, rinse them thoroughly with warm water to remove any saltiness, and place them in two soup bowls.

Meanwhile, scramble the eggs with the tsp of water and pour on a flat griddle. You are trying to make as flat an omelette as possible. Fold and turn, when one side is finished. When both sides are done, slice into strips. (Tofu, especially some of the crispy fried tofu cubes, would be a fine substitute for the egg in this dish and would make it vegan. Plan this for a night after you make the tofu for some other recipe and have some left over.)

In a small pot, slowly bring the soup base and water to a roiling boil. Ladle the soup over the noodles. Each bowl then gets its own serving of spinach, egg, mushroom and nori, arranged in their own sections. Garnish with the scallions, and serve with Japanese red chili pepper on the side.

Shopping List

1 recipe or bottle noodle soup base (this is the amount for the home made base. If you are using store-bought base, follow the directions on the bottle for the base:water ratio.)
2 bundles udon noodles
2 eggs
1/3 – 1/2 cup shitake mushroom pieces, dried or fresh

1 package frozen chopped spinach defrosted in hot tap water
2 scallions thinly sliced
1/2 sheet of nori (dried seaweed)
Japanese red chili pepper (optional)*

*I am looking into which of the online Asian groceries get the best ratings, and will link the the one that people like the most when I am finished. Check to see if you have a store in your area – they are becoming more and more common.