Kake Udon

This was one of the most time intensive and weird-ingredient laden recipes I have thus far cooked. It was delicious, but I warn you, there are some strange ingredients that can only be found at a Japanese market. I even tried my hand at hand-making the udon noodles another night, but they turned out horribly, and I suggest you just buy the noodles if you are already making the broth from scratch. Also, I don't suggest you try making the dashi. I did, and it just delayed dinner time by about an hour. Just buy it from the Japanese market.

Here's the recipe adapted from the La Fuji Mama blog.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4-2 oz. servings of store bought Udon noodles
1 cup Water
2 cups Soy Sauce
1 ½ cups Mirin
2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1.8 ounces Katsuobushi (Dried Fish Flakes)
6 ¾ cups Dashi (don't try making this, it takes forever. Just do the store-bought version)

Finely Sliced Scallions, to taste
Shichimi Togarashi Or Chili Powder, to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large pot, combine the water, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low, and add the katsuobushi. When the mixture comes to a boil again, turn off the heat and let the mixture stand for 2 minutes. Then strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, or a sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth, and discard the katsuobushi.

2. Separate the udon noodles into 4 separate deep bowls.

3. Add the dashi to the mixture in the pot and heat over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, turn the heat off and pour it over the udon noodles. Sprinkle with scallions and shichimi togarashi, to taste and serve.