Japanese Noodles

The Other Japanese Food That is More Popular Than Sushi

Apr 3, 2010
Chris Deziel

Noodles are a Japanese mainstay - Koay Teow T'ng

Wheat-based noodles have been popular in Japan for centuries. There are four main varieties that can be served hot or cold and it's easy to make them yourself.

When you think of Japanese food, your mind probably goes to sushi and tofu, but the Japanese have been making noodles since the Heian period (794-1185 AD) and have developed a distinctive cuisine around them. The four main kinds – udon, soba, somen and ramen – are all made from wheat or buckwheat and are often processed with salt to regulate the amount of gluten that the body has to process. Japanese noodles are served hot or cold, depending on the season, and more often than not are served in a soup that is a meal in itself. They are consumed in Japan almost as much as rice.

Regional Diversity

Japan may be a small country, but it has a wide cultural diversity, and this is reflected in its noodle preferences. For example, the fat, somewhat unwieldy noodles called udon probably originated in the Kansai region and are still considered a local preference. The first ones were likely made from flour that was refined from wheat grown in the Sanuki Plains near Kyoto and Osaka. Soba, on the other hand, are more refined noodles made from buckwheat rolled with a little glutinous wheat to help them stick together. These probably originated in Kanto because it is a major producer of buckwheat, and this region continues to be highly regarded for soba production. Somen noodles constitute a third variety of noodles that are mostly consumed in the southern regions of the country. Because these regions are warmer, people there prepare them on ice to be eaten as a summer treat.

Ramen

No discussion of Japanese noodles would be complete without mentioning ramen, those ubiquitous noodles found in supermarkets world-wide in freeze-dried form. These were popularized by soldiers returning from Manchuria after World War II who opened ramen shops all over the country. Alkali ash is added to the dough of ramen noodles to give them a yellow color and a distinctive aroma. They are served in a soup that varies from shop-to-shop, and sampling ramen from different shops is passion for many Japanese travelers. The freeze dried variety was invented by Ando Momofuku, chairman of Nissin Foods, in 1958 and was named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll. There is even a ramen museum in Yokohama.

How to Make Zaru Soba

You can easily make soba noodles from scratch and add them to a soup, but for a treat that is usually enjoyed in the summer months, try eating the noodles cold with a little soy sauce and wasabi. This dish is called zaru soba and here's how to make it:

Sift 80% buckwheat flour and 20% white flour into a mixing bowl and shake well to remove lumps. The purpose of the refined flower is to help the non-glutinous buckwheat stick together.
Add water and stir the mixture until it is about the consistency of bread dough.
Lay the mixture on a floured board and roll it until it is about 1/8-inch thick.
Fold the flattened dough over on itself lengthwise 2 or 3 times so that you have several layers.
Cut the layers with a sharp knife about 1/4-inch from the end to form a row of noodles. Continue doing this until all the noodles have been cut.
Place the noodles in boiling water with a little salt and cook them for about 10 minutes. Don't cook them too long or they will lose their firmness.
Remove the noodles and refrigerate them.
Place the cold noodles on a bamboo serving dish and serve with a dish of soy sauce mixed with wasabi. Eat the noodles with chopsticks after first dipping them in the soy sauce.

Chris Deziel - Chris Deziel has lived and worked in Asia, Africa and many parts of North America, doing laboratory research in acoustics and electrical ...