Zaru-Style Cold Soba with Soy-Mirin Dipping Sauce and Grated Daikon

Chilled buckwheat soba arrives zaru-style with a soy-mirin dashi dip brightened by grated daikon and ginger. It echoes the alley pots that fed Edo firemen after the ward blaze in Soba Steam After Curfew.

Serves 2

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Ingredients

• 8 oz dried soba noodles
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 piece kombu
• 2 tbsp bonito flakes
• 4 oz daikon radish
• 3 scallions
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger

Instructions

1. 1Cook the soba noodles in a large pot of boiling water according to package directions until just tender, then immediately drain and rinse under cold running water until completely chilled.
2. 2Combine the water, kombu, and bonito flakes in a small pot, bring to a simmer for 5 minutes then strain to make a quick dashi.
3. 3Mix the dashi with soy sauce, mirin, and grated ginger to create the dipping sauce; chill until ready to serve.
4. 4Peel and finely grate the daikon radish, slice the scallions thinly, and toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan for 1 minute.
5. 5Arrange the cold soba on plates or zaru mats, sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds, and serve alongside small bowls of the dipping sauce and grated daikon.