Gomen Somen


Gomen means sorry in Japanese (i.e. Gomen, I broke your eggbeater).


Somen rhymes with gomen.

On this very hot day (yesterday really), I would like to apologize for disappearing from the blogosphere by offering up Japanese somen noodles. They are cold, require very little time and almost zero effort—ordering drive thru is tougher.

For those unfamiliar with Japanese food, somen is a great gateway drug.

The most popular way to eat the thin, wheat based noodles is to dip them into a cold, savory soup. This is the first Japanese food I learned to cook and eat, and I still make it all the time.

Gomen, I was a negligent blogger, but I hope these noodles will make amends.



Somen
1 noodle bunch
¼ cup somen soup base
¼ cup water
1 green onion (chopped)
(serves one)

Boil noodles according to instructions on package.

Drain noodles, rinsing under cold water until all noodles are cold.

If you want really cold noodles, toss a few ice cubes into the bowl.

Mix somen soup base and water in a small bowel. (Each diner should have their own soup bowl)



Eating instructions

Step 1
Season your soup—some like to use wasabi or ginger, but I keep it simple with green onion.


Step 2
Grab a bunch of noodles with your chopsticks and dump them in the soup


Step 3
Fish some noodles from the bowl and eat. Be sure to slurp. Slurping shows appreciation to the chef.




*Somen and soup base can be found in the Japanese section of Asian food stores and in some supermarkets.

More super simple summer dishes are to come. Click here to have them sent directly to your email for free.


10 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Who doesn't like to slurp some noddles? Looking good!

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  2. soba - ramen somen gomen - yo - man - these noodles are for me....

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  3. Nice to have your back, Devon!
    I have some somen noodles in my pantry. Can't think for the life of me what dish I used them in originally and they have been sitting there for quite a while. Now I have the perfect dish to put them to use!

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  4. Glad to see you back! The noodles look wonderful, a perfect dish for the summer season!

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  5. Welcome back!!! I have never had a cold noodle soup. I have no doubt that I would love it.

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  6. It's so nice to be back and see what you are all up to.

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  7. Hey Devon! Glad to see you're back!

    I'll pass this along to you. My 14 year old daughter is into cooking. She did something I'd never seen done (I'm limited, though). She put cranraisins on top of oatmeal cookies before baking. They were really good.

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  8. I have missed you welcome back! Looks like a fun dish thanks Devon!

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  9. Hi
    Amazing blog. When i red it I just want cook something. Fantastic:P But for me it was hard to found your blog. Mayby you would like to share your experience with people from differnt countries in international forum blog http://www.lifebeyondtourism.com/. Its easier from people from Poland to find it.
    see Ya

    ReplyDelete

FOOD IS ONE OF THE MOST VISCERAL ASPECTS OF A CULTURE; IT CAN BE EXPERIENCED WITH NO LANGUAGE SKILLS, NO GUIDE, AND MOST TIMES WITH VERY LITTLE MONEY.