Kake Udon

Ingredients

• 14 ozfrozen udon noodles, or fresh, from a vacuum pack
• 3 cupskombu dashi
• 3 tbspsoy sauce
• 2 tbspmirin
• 3scallions, thinly sliced

Method

1. 1

   Put the dashi, soy sauce and mirin into a saucepan and bring it to a bare simmer over a medium heat. Taste it: it should be clearly savory and only faintly sweet. Keep it hot but do not let it boil hard.

2. 2

   Bring a second pot of unsalted water to the boil and cook the udon according to its package — usually 3 minutes from frozen, 8 to 10 for dried. Drain them.

3. 3

   If you used dried udon, rinse them briefly under hot water to wash off the surface starch, then shake them dry. Frozen and fresh udon need nothing.

4. 4

   Divide the noodles between two deep bowls, ladle the hot broth over them until they are just covered, and scatter the sliced scallions on top. Eat immediately, while the broth is still steaming.