This cold noodle dish is THE summer dish people enjoy in Japan.
This type of extremely thin noodle is called “so-men”.
Interestingly, this particular brand named their so-men “Tomo-Shiraga”, which literally means “friend white hair”.
It’s the thinnest type of noodle found in Japan, and I guess the name is probably not too inappropriate (lol).
You cook the noodles (it takes no time!), and after cooling them down under running cold water, you serve them in a bowl full of iced water with ice cubes.
Just looking at this cools you down on a hot summer day.
Just a simple side dish is all you need.
What’s really important to So-men is preparing condiments.
There are so many different options, but the ones I got here are some of my favorites: scallion, Shiso (Japanese basil), grated radish (usually Daikon, but I used red radish), ginger, wasabi, and roasted nori (seaweed).
I love setting the table with a dish like this.
It reminds me of home.
When I sit down for a meal like this in front of me, it hits me and makes me realize something simple, “well I’m Japanese”.
Food often has a special power like that, really reminding you where you are from.
Now I’ll show you how to eat So-men.
You usually share a bowl of so-men with your family, but you’ll have your own small cup of chilled soup.
Use your chopsticks and scoop up noodles.
You don’t need a lot of noodles, just enough for one slurp.
Drop the noodles in your soup.
Add condiments to your soup.
Ta-da!
You have a perfect cup of noodle soup to enjoy.
Once you finish your noodles in your cup, repeat the process.
Add more soup and condiments as needed.
Thank you for reading.
