Cycle 13 – Item 213

6 (Sat) August 2022

Zaru Somen

3.0

by me

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with DJ and IZ

While zaru soba has long been a family staple (see most recently 13.059 Zaru Soba), I was inspired to make the dish with somen noodles after watching Chef Kenji do so on his cooking program (see Beat the Heat with Cold Somen).  I’ve had a similar variation with udon noodles at a Japanese restaurant in Manila (see 10.322 Zaru Udon).

I thought the kids would prefer somen, which is made of white flour and thus lighter in taste and texture than soba, which is made of buckwheat and thus a bit gritty and bitter, but they didn’t really dig it – probably a good thing, as soba seems marginally more nutritious (more fiber?).

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)