Serving udon noodles in a simple soup highlights their appealingly slippery texture. This recipe calls for dashi powder, which may contain MSG (check the packet). If this bothers you, you can make your own dashi stock – simmer 25gm dried bonito flakes in a litre of water for three minutes, strain, then use this liquid instead of the litre of water in step 1 of the recipe.
Ingredients
Method
Main
1.Soak dried shiitakes in 250ml hot water until rehydrated (30 minutes). Drain and discard shiitakes. Combine shiitake water with dashi powder and an additional 1 litre water, bring to the boil, add mirin, shoyu and sesame oil and keep warm.
2.Cook udon in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender (2-4 minutes). Drain well, divide among warm serving bowls and pour stock over. Top with fresh shiitake mushrooms, spring onion, pickled ginger and seaweed, and serve hot.