Main

Here is an elegant summertime recipe that you can pull together quickly, with minimum time at the stove. You can use fresh or canned crabmeat, and fresh or frozen shrimp and squid. My local supermarket sells frozen squid that has already been cleaned, which is what I use when I cook this dish at home. The sweetness of the seafood in this recipe pairs nicely with the tomato dipping sauce, while the arugula adds a nice contrasting zing.

Saifun bean threads are more toothsome and chewier than rice noodles, so they’re perfect for stir-frying, like in this recipe. I created this recipe for two servings; if you want to prepare it for four, just cook in two batches. I’ve combined these noodles with a spicy, tangy sauce and delicious beef short ribs.

The daikon and cucumber in this recipe are perfect for summertime: cooling, crunchy, and fresh tasting. The mitsuba, an herb that has a wonderful, delicate flavor that’s a bit like chervil, adds another refreshing note and doesn’t overpower. Add tangy yuzu and rich salmon and you have a balanced, nutritious, and delicious dish you can knock out in 15 minutes, from start to finish. If you’d like, you can substitute canned salmon for the fillets and avoid firing up the oven altogether.

This recipe is for somen at its most elementary: a simple but sublime combination of noodles accented with a mixture of aromatic garnishes. You can layer other ingredients in this dish if you’d like, too, such as steamed and cooled spinach, fava beans or sugar snap peas, or thinly sliced raw carrots (find the freshest carrots you can, especially from your garden or farmers’ market). Just add it to the garnish dish. Cooling the broth in a metal container, as I recommend below, will help the liquid chill faster.

In Japan, this udon is a rich and comforting wintertime favorite, and it is especially popular with young people. And not only in Japan. Here in Chicago, it’s one of my son’s favorites. He plays ice hockey in school, and when he comes home after practice he’s ravenous. Niku udon to the rescue, every time.

Here’s one for the grown-ups. In Japan, we usually don’t drink sake or beer without a salty or spicy dish to tickle the palate. This udon is both salty and spicy, and is a perfect complement to your favorite beverage. The poached egg yolk in the dish adds a satisfying richness to the broth.

This dish is perfect for anyone with a hearty appetite. In Japan, it’s especially popular with teenagers, who devour large plates of these satisfying and filling fried noodles. Yaki udon is also a staple of Japan’s izakaya, or eating pubs, especially as a late night snack or complement to a frosty mug of beer. This recipe works best in servings of two. If you’d like to make it for four people, just prepare the dish in two batches.

Winter is the best season to enjoy this dish, when crab is at its most flavorful. I love serving these noodles in individual clay pots, which are such an intimate and satisfying way to enjoy a meal. These vessels become very hot when you cook in them, though, so be careful when you remove them from the burners. If you don’t have a clay pot, you can use other vessels, too. (See the discussion on clay pots in the recipce for Somen in a Clay Pot with Chicken and Eggplant, page 90, for more information.) Timing is very important for this dish to cook correctly, so make sure you have your game plan ready before you start.

Everyone in Japan knows ja-ja-men, with its spicy miso and garlicky flavors. Think of it as the Japanese version of spaghetti and Bolognese sauce, a favorite at home and casual restaurants. This may sound counterintultive, but I love eating this dish on a hot summer day—its spices reenergize me.

My kids can’t get enough of the savory and sweet flavor of this dish, which makes me smile because I still remember the moment I first tasted kitsune udon—in elementary school. Back in Japan, my grade school served meals to its students, and these noodles were one of my favorite lunchtime treats. I know both you and your kids will love them, too: they’re easy to prepare and the sweet and tangy flavor lasts and lasts.

Save this dish for late summer, when tomatoes and vegetables are at their peak of flavor. Use a variety of heirloom tomatoes, especially ones with different colors, which will make for an eye-catching presentation. Inaniwa udon is a noodle that originated in Japan’s rugged far north. Unlike typical udon noodles, which look like thick spaghetti, inaniwa is shaped like linguine and tastes great chilled.

Su means “plain” in Japanese, which is how this dish got its name. But plain doesn’t mean boring—this is a simple and light dish that I love when I want to enjoy the chewy texture of udon noodles without eating anything too heavy. Wakame is a nutritious seaweed that’s found in many Japanese dishes. You can include spinach in this recipe, too, if you’d like. Just quickly blanch the spinach in boiling water, cool in an ice bath, and drain before adding to the individual bowls.

Loaded with nutrients, wakame has been an important part of the Japanese diet for centuries. And besides being good for you, it has a wonderful flavor that’s both briny and sweet. I love this seaweed and eat a ton of it. Wakame is also very convenient: because it’s dried, it can be stored for months, but it takes only minutes to reconstitute. This quick and easy soba dish is a delicious way to introduce this versatile ingredient to American cooks, especially when paired with fresh snow peas and tangy onions. Give it a try; I know you’ll love wakame as much as I do.

Japanese curry? Actually, curry has been a part of Japanese cuisine for more than a hundred years. The Japanese navy adopted it in the nineteenth century from their British counterparts, who ate it on ships. Soon, eating curry on Friday became a Japanese naval tradition. And not just for sailors. Japanese citizens fell in love with curry, too, especially kids. I should know—I was one of them. When I was growing up, I was crazy about curry. Now my own kids adore it, especially in this dish. You can use any cut of beef that you like. If you want to go upscale, try rib eye, but even beef scraps work just fine.

This summer recipe centers on a versatile ingredient that’s beloved in Japan but almost unknown here, one that I know you’ll enjoy. It’s called yamaimo, or mountain yam. This root has a nice, fresh taste, with a delicately sweet, nutty flavor and lots of umami, or sense of savoriness. The most popular variety, which you can find in Asian markets, looks like a tan-colored baton. Peel the skin and grate its white flesh. Raw yamaimo has a liquidy, slippery texture that might take getting used to, but it pairs beautifully with the toothsome soba in this dish. I’ve also added okra, a cooling Southern favorite that’s very popular in Japan.

Tempura soba is a delicious and satisfying lunchtime favorite in Japan, served both at home and in restaurants across the country. Tempura has a long history in the country. The cooking method was introduced by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and has been refined into a uniquely Japanese food ever since. Make sure you eat this dish quickly, while the soba is still steaming and the tempura is hot and crispy. The way we enjoy this dish in Japan is to dip the tempura into the soba broth as we eat it. This serves two purposes: First, the broth flavors the tempura, acting as a dipping sauce. And second, the tempura returns the favor, adding richness to the broth while its crumbs add texture. So we have both foods working together to create an irresistible whole!

Zucchini blossoms are an ingredient that always catches my eye in the early summertime, especially at the farmers’ markets here in my hometown of Chicago. They inspired me to come up with this recipe, my own interpretation of the classic stuffed zucchini blossoms of both Italian and Japanese cuisines. In this dish, I stuff the flowers with onion and shrimp, then fry them as tempura, a combination of flavors and textures that complements the toothsome soba.

I still remember the first time I tasted this dish as a child, when my parents took me to a famous shrine near my hometown. Soba sushi was the signature dish there, and restaurants near the shrine served it for lunch. This recipe makes two kinds of soba sushi: soba rolls and abura-age sushi. It has a lot of steps, but don’t worry, it’s not very complicated. The result is worth it: delicious finger food with layers of flavor and texture. Kampyo, the dried squash in the soba rolls, is a traditional ingredient with a delicate sweetness that you can find in Asian markets. Marinated abura-age is deep-fried tofu that opens up like pocket bread. Soba sushi is a perfect appetizer or party treat that will wow your guests. This dish also travels well, so you can add it to a lunchbox or picnic basket. You can also prepare this recipe up to a day ahead of serving. Just be sure to wrap it well and store in the refrigerator before serving.

This soba gnocchi is one of the most popular dishes at my Chicago restaurant, Takashi. My customers love it and often ask me how to prepare it at home. Well, here’s the answer! The recipe is a little challenging, but I guarantee you it will more than impress the guests at your next dinner party. You can prepare the gnocchi in advance, and even freeze it (be sure to coat the gnocchi with vegetable oil before refrigerating or freezing). You can also prepare the celery root sauce ahead of time. And like the gnocchi, you can freeze it, too.

My hometown of Mito is known throughout Japan as “Natto City” in recognition of our devotion to these fermented soybeans. Natto has a wonderful nutty flavor and aroma, and I’ve loved it since I was a kid. Serving it with soba is a terrific introduction to this nutritious and ancient naturally preserved ingredient. When you open a packet of natto, the beans will be sticky and thready, but don’t let that put you off. This dish makes a beautiful presentation when it’s served. Just make sure you mix together all the ingredients very well before you eat to combine the flavors.