Day 5 and last of this series for now, Zaru Soba, a Japanese Cold Soba Noodle and is so easy to prepare! All it takes is just 4 minutes to cook the noodles. This light and refreshing cold soba will be your summer staple dish. That literally means everyday here in Malaysia.

WHAT IS ZARU SOBA?
Soba is a Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour and Zaru Soba or also known as Cold Soba is chilled soba noodles with a cold soy based dipping sauce made from Mentsuyu. I have linked on how to make Mentsuyu but you can also use store bought Mentsuyu, usually labelled as Kombu Tsuyu here.
There are two commonly known soba noodles here, the plain buckwheat or green tea. Somen which is a wheat flour Japanese noodle can also be used in replacement of buckwheat soba.


HOW TO EAT ZARU SOBA?
Zaru soba is very simple. The noodles come with a dipping sauce made from 1 part Mentsuyu and 3 parts cold water. Next to the dipping sauce is an option to mixed in grated daikon, spring onion, raw quail egg and wasabi. Soba noodles are served on a plate seperately.
To eat, mix condiments into dipping sauce. Pick up soba noodles and dip into the sauce briefly and slurp the noodles. Since the dipping sauce is salty, do not leave the noodles too long in it.
Zaru soba is often served with Vegetable or prawns tempura as a side, to make it a complete meal! But I mean, who wants to fry up tempura while craving for a quick noodle for supper 😉




INGREDIENTS AND STEPS TO MAKE ZARU SOBA
- Soba Noodles. They can be found in most supermarket at the Japanese aisle. They are dried and tied in a bundle. Usually in plain buckwheat or green tea. It usually takes 4 minutes to cook in boiling water. Wash noodles in ice water to remove starch and keep noodles cold. Drain and serve just noodles on a plate.
- Mentsuyu / Kombu Tsuyu. If you have dried bonito flakes and kombu at home, it can be made easily and stored in the fridge. To make the dipping sauce, dilute with 1 part mentsuyu and 3 parts cold water. If using store bought tsuyu, the ratio is usually written at the back of the bottle.
- Daikon. Add 1 tsp Grated daikon to each dipping bowl to cut through the saltiness.
- Spring onion. For freshness
- Seaweed strips, added next to soba noodles. Optional but gives it that extra umami flavour.
- Wasabi. If only you want to add a kick.

Zaru Soba (Cold Soba Noodles)
Ingredients
- 1 tie soba noodles (buckwheat noodles)
- 1 tbsp mentsuyu (kombu tsuyu)
- 3 tbsp ice water
Toppings
- 1/2 stalk Spring onion (green part)
- 1 tbsp Grated daikon (optional)
- dried seaweed (optional)
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil, add in soba noodles and boil for 4 minutes
- Drain noodles and wash in ice water to remove starch. Drain and plate it
- In a small bowl, add 1 tbsp mentsuyu and 3 tbsp ice water. Add toppings.
- To eat, take some soba noodles and add into dipping sauce, eat from it straight away.
Did you try this dish?
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