Vegetable Tempura and Tempura Udon Noodle Soup

Tempura udon noodle soup is pretty much my go to order at Japanese restaurants if they don't serve ramen.  I love the contrast of the crunchy tempura vegetables with the thick, chewy noodles and the delicate broth that brings it all together. 

Tempura isn't something I'd normally make at home since deep frying can be such a pain, but being able to eat freshly fried tempura is so good that it's worth it.  You can also refrigerate any leftovers and heat them up in the oven or toaster oven, but it won't be as good.

Vegetable Tempura
serves 3-4

Assorted vegetables (I used a large sweet potato, half a bunch of broccoli, and half a red onion)
Neutral oil for frying (I used canola)
1 egg yolk
1 cup ice water
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

Peel and slice the sweet potato into think rounds.  Cut the broccoli into florets and discard the stalk.  Cut the onion into thin slices.  Spread the cut vegetables out and allow to air dry for at least half an hour, flipping the pieces halfway through.

 
Pour enough oil into a heavy pot so that the oil is at least 2" deep.  Heat on high until the oil reaches 350°F.

 
In the meantime, mix the egg yolk, ice water, and flour to make the tempura batter.  Prepare a draining rack by lining a baking tray with two layers of paper towels and then laying cooling racks on top of the towels. 

Once the oil has reached 350°F, drop a few pieces of vegetable in the batter to coat and carefully lower into the oil (I used chopsticks to do this).  Make sure you do not overcrowd the pot; you don't want the vegetables to touch each other while they're cooking, and you don't want the temperature of the oil to drop too much.

 
When the vegetables have lightly browned, remove with a slotted spoon and place on the draining rack.  Make sure the oil has heated back up to 350°F and repeat with the rest of the vegetables in small batches.  Serve immediately.

 
You can make a dipping sauce by mixing one cup of dashi with 1/4 cup mirin and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

To make tempura udon noodle soup, heat two cups of dashi and add 2 tablespoons of mirin and soy sauce each.  Pour into a large soup bowl, add cooked udon noodles, and top with vegetable tempura.

 
If you end up with leftover batter after frying all the vegetables, drip it into the hot oil to make tenkasu (tempura flakes).  I like to add these to the udon noodle soup for added texture.  You can also use them in okonomiyaki.

Next:  Thomas Keller's Lemon Tart
Previously:  Homemade Udon Noodles
Four years ago:  Curry Turnovers

Homemade Udon Noodles

Compared to making ramen noodles, making udon noodles seems a lot less fussy.  There's no obscure ingredient to find (unless you live somewhere where you can't find tapioca flour) and you literally use your feet to knead the dough.  I know!  Since the noodles are a thicker cut, there's even less of a need to have a pasta machine as well, although I found the dough to be stiffer so a pasta machine can really help with the rolling part.

Udon Noodles (adapted from She Simmers)
makes 1 1/2 lbs. fresh noodles

5 1/2 cups bread flour plus more for dusting
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix together the bread flour and tapioca flour in a large mixing bowl.

 
Dissolve the salt in the warm water.  Pour about half of the salt water into the flour and mix with your hands.  Add the remaining water, a teaspoon at a time, just until you can form a ball with the dough.

 
Place the dough in a gallon size Ziploc bag, squeeze out the air, and seal.  Place the bag on the ground and knead with your feet for a minute.  (I may or may not have put on my cutest socks for that shot.)

Remove the dough from the bag, fold it in thirds like a letter, place it back in the bag, and knead with your feet again for another minute.  Repeat this process two more times.

 
Let the dough rest in a warm place for 3-6 hours.

Divide the dough in 4 quarters.  Work on a quarter at a time, leaving the rest of the dough covered.

 
Use a pasta machine or roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/8" thickness. 

 

Dust the surface of the dough with a little more flour and then fold it into thirds like a letter.  Cut the dough into 1/8" thick strips. 

 

Keep the noodles covered while you work on rolling out and cutting the rest of the dough.  At this point you can store the fresh, uncooked noodles in an airtight container (I used a Ziploc bag) in the refrigerator for a few days before cooking.  Just make sure to toss them in enough flour to keep them from sticking to one another.  As you can kind of see from my pictures, my dough was so dry already that I didn't need to add much more flour. 

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the fresh noodles.  After about 3 minutes, the noodles will start to float.  Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the noodles look swollen.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

 
Above is a comparison of hand-rolled and hand-cut noodles vs. machine rolled and cut noodles.  Can you tell which is which?

 
I like to eat my udon noodles in a dashi broth seasoned with a little soy sauce and mirin (about 2 teaspoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of mirin per cup of dashi).  Add whatever toppings you want:  tofu, mushrooms, snow peas, carrots, etc.  My favorite is vegetable tempura, which I'll cover in the next post!

Next:  Vegetable Tempura and Tempura Udon
Previously:  Momofuku Ramen Broth
Three years ago:  Apple and Pear Cake Fail
Four years ago:  Macarons - A Lesson in Humility