Hello everyone, I'm MASA.
Today I'd like to share with you on how to make delicious soba noodles.
It's called
[Japanese] Ebi ten toshikoshi soba (toshikoshi means year-crossing in Japanese)
Ebi Tempura Soba Noodles
[Tip] In Japan, we often prepare toshikoshi soba on December 31 to welcome a new year.
The reason why we serve soba noodles on this day
is because of the thin and long shape of the noodles.
[Tip] The long, thin-shaped soba symbolizes "longevity."
So we believe that by eating soba, we will spend a great time crossing the year
as well as have a healthy new year.
Today I prepare another ingredient to go with soba, which is prawn.
[Tip] Prawns are considered as an ingredient for a celebratory occasion in Japan.
Prawn in Japanese is called "Ebi"
Written in Japanese kanji, it shows "海老",
which means "the old man of the sea"
Why describing it as an old man?
[Tip] Because the curved shape of a prawn looks like the hunched back of the elderly.
[Tip] That's why we consider prawns as a symbol of longevity.
So this time I'm gonna use soba and prawns to make a delicious and plentiful Toshikoshi Soba.
It's really easy.
Ok, let's get started.
(Cake flour—40 g)
(Potato starch—10 g)
[Tip] Adding some starch helps to make a batter with light texture.
(sieve through a strainer)
(Mayonnaise—20 g)
(Water-60 cc)
(Make sure the mayonnaise melts completely)
[Tip] Using mayonnaise can also make batter that comes with light and crispy texture.
(Pour into the flour)
[Tip] No need to mix it finely. Keep it lumpy to get better texture.
(Rest the batter in the fridge for about 10 minutes)
(5 prawns)
(Devein the prawns)
(Twist to remove the head)
(Remove the shell but leave the last segment attached)
(from where the arrow points)
[Tip] By doing so, the tail will still be on.
(Scrape the tail to remove water)
[Tip] If water is left in the tail, oil may pop when you deep fry the prawns!
(If you'd like to make straight prawn tempura...)
(Half cut the abdomen side)
(Press down the prawn to keep it straight)
[Tip] By doing so, the prawns won't curl up when deep fried.
(Enoki—about 1/3 pack)
(Tear from the outer ring)
[Tip] To evenly heat them up, make thin slices of enoki.
(Prepare about 4 slices of enoki, and preserve the rest...)
(Wakame—3 g)
(Pour in clean water)
(Soak for about 5 minutes)
Alright, all ingredients are ready.
The main ingredients this time are prawns and soba.
So I prepare only 2 ingredients to garnish the soba.
You can use ingredients of your own preference.
Such as mushroom, or shiitake, etc.
For green vegetables, you can use oba, or asparagus, which are also suitable for this dish.
[Tip] I once uploaded a video teaching specifically about how to make "Assorted Tempura."
If you're interested in it, check it out by clicking on "i" icon.
Furthermore, this time I use mayonnaise to make batter.
[Tip] Basic tempura batter requires a whole egg. If adding up corresponding ratio of flour and water, that makes a large amount of batter.
[Tip] It may be a waste preparing a whole bowl of batter just to make tempura serving 1 to 2 persons.
If you use my method and add a little bit of mayonnaise,
[Tip] it helps to create flavor & texture similar to regular tempura while preparing just-the-right amount batter.
Ok, let's begin to cook soba and tempura.
[Soba soup] (Dashi—400 cc)
(1 tsp of sugar)
(1/4 tsp of salt)
(1 tbsp of mirin)
(1 tbsp of soy sauce)
(Put to medium heat)
(Cook until the sugar melts)
[Tip] For flavor retaining, cook the soup with only a short period of time. You may heat it up later before plating.
(Turn off the heat)
(Pour in oil)
(Put to medium heat)
(Heat the oil to about 170°C)
(Drip some batter to test the temperature)
[Tip] If the batter float back up right away & turn to golden brown gradually, it's the right temperature to fry.
(Enoki)
(Coat with batter)
(Drain off excess batter)
[Tip] Usually, we deep fry vegetables first and then seafood.
[Tip] The concept is to deep fry ingredients with mild flavor and then that with heavy flavor.
(Deep fry to golden brown color on both sides)
(Keep deep-frying)
[Tip] To keep the temperature of oil, deep-fry a little at a time.
(Prawns)
(Coat with batter evenly)
(Remove excess of batter)
(Use chopsticks to drizzle some batter)
[Tip] This method is called "Hana age", creating extra crispy batter garnishing the tempura.
[Tip] This method is often used when the tempura is placed on the top of noodles or donburi.
(Take it out when turning light golden brown)
(Keep deep-frying)
(Take out the tempura crumbs to keep the oil clean)
[Tip] In a diner, they usually use two stoves to fry tempura and cook soba at the same time.
[Tip] But you can also make tempura first, place them in an oven to keep warm, and take your time to cook soba.
[How to Deal with Used Frying Oil]
(Sieve through a strainer)
[Tip] Save it for next deep-frying dish or stir-frying dish.
(Boil water)
(A bundle of soba)
(Put into boiling water)
[Tip] Cooking time differs from different brands. Please take the suggested time on the package as reference.
(Pour in the soba soup that is heated up again)
(Place soba to a better presentation)
(Deep-fried enoki)
(Deep-fried prawns)
(Soaked wakame)
(Chopped green onion)
Ok, here is a bowl of Ebi ten toshikoshi soba.
Ok, we may now dig in.
Oh, wonderful.
It's simply great to see plentiful tempura topped on soba noodles.
Let me try this soba first.
Can you see the soba is steaming?
[Japanese] Dewa Itadakimasu
(Simply satisfying)
(Thumb up)
Excuse my slurping sound.
Enjoying Japanese dish like soba, we usually eat it with sucking motion.
So it may sounds a little bit uncomfortable.
However, when tasting soba, it's still recommended to eat it like this in order to enjoy the full texture.
Ok, let me try the prawn next.
The tempura prawn has actually absorbed the soba soup.
but for the part that has not dipped into the soup, it remains crispy.
Thus, you can enjoy soft and crunchy texture at the same time.
[Japanese] Dewa Itadakimasu
The prawns are coated with batter before being fried so they still taste pretty juicy.
Even though I use mayonnaise to make batter this time
the tempura tastes just like the regular ones made with traditional method.
If you follow this recipe
you may find there are some extra tempura.
There is no need to squeeze them all on top of the soba noodles.
Instead, you can place them on another plate.
While tasting the soba, you can enjoy those extra tempura by dipping them in the soup.
In that case, you can enjoy a crispier texture.
Also, these extra tempura are savior when you feel a bit lost eating up the toppings in soba noodles
They make you feel blessed to see you have some more.
Ok, today's recipe is very easy.
Since this is a toshikoshi (year-crossing) dish, I use soba noodles.
[Tip] But, you can also replace soba with udon noodles.
[Tip] Or, you can use steamed rice to make donburi. (In Japanese we call it Ten don)
I once introduced Deep fried Chicken Wings in my previous video. The sauce taught in that video is also suitable to go with donburi.
2019 almost come to an end.
I would like to thank you all for your bountiful support.
In 2020, I will continue sharing more delicious cuisines.
Wishing you all a wonderful new year!
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