Joyful: Recipe - Japanese Cold Noodle (Hiyashi Chuka)

I missed those days when my grandmother made the Japanese cold vermicelli when I returned from school. It was so tasty and refreshing to eat this dish especially during hot weather. Who would have expect that vermicelli would mix well with thin shreds of ham, egg and japanese cucumbers and specially home-made sauce.

Thinking back, my grandmother who has never tasted Japanese food before, knew how to mix the sauce such that it tasted exactly the same as those I ate in restaurant. It was amazing! Now that my grandmother has passed on, I try to replicate this dish in remembrance of her. In this recipe, instead of using vermicelli/cha soba/ramen, I replaced it with soumen (It is a type of white Japanese noodles made of wheat flour. Unlike udon, soumen are very thin, less than 1.3mm in diameter.)

Grandma, this is for you! :)

Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes (excluding cutting/shredding ingredients)
Serving: 4 pax

Ingredients:

150g soumen (I would recommend this brand, 'Nissin No. 1 Soumen Dried Noodle' as the texture is smooth and silky when cooked)

Toppings:
1 Japanese cucumber (cut into fine strips / shredded)
1 medium carrot (cut into fine strips / shredded)
8pcs of crabstick (teared into fine strips)

For the egg:
4 eggs (separate into 2 portions and cut into fine strips after pan-fry)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp mirin

Dressing:
8 tbsp japanese shoyu (men-tsuyu: for dipping soba noodles)
2 tbsp water (you may add more water if you find it the shoyu salty)
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegar (omit if you don't like vinegar)
1 tsp sesame oil

Instructions:

1. Mix the dressing and set aside.
2. Cook soumen in boiling water. When it's half-cooked (i.e. translucent), remove it from the boiling water and soak it in ice water for about a minute. Strain it and place on the serving dish.
3. Place shredded cucumber, egg, carrot and crabstick in this order on top of the soumen.
4. Pour in the dressing.
4. Serve immediately.