Japanese Cold Somen Noodles

Craving a light and refreshing chilled noodle dish on a hot summer day? Try my Cold Somen Noodles served with grated ginger, scallion, and a savory soy-based dipping sauce called tsuyu. Optionally, you can add various vegetables and proteins to this cooling dish to make it a more filling meal.

Ingredients:

• 4 bundles of dried somen noodles

For the Dipping Sauce

• ¼ cup (60 ml) mentsuyu/tsuyu (concentrated noodle soup base) (for my homemade recipe, click here)
• ½-1 cup iced water (add only if using concentrated mentsuyu; for the brand I use, the mentsuyu-to-water dilution ratio is 1 to 3; therefore, I use ¾ cup water for ¼ cup mentsuyu concentrate for 2 servings)

For the Garnishes

• 1 green onion/scallion
• 1 knob ginger (½ inch, 1.3 cm for 2 servings)
• shiso leaves (perilla/ooba) (thinly sliced; optional)
• myoga ginger (thinly sliced; optional)
• daikon radish (grated; optional)
• toasted white sesame seeds (optional)

For the Simmered Shiitake Topping (Optional)

• 8-10 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp water (or dashi)