Pasta & Noodles

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.

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.

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.

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.

This dish packs flavor with history. Take the word nanban, which refers to foreign influence in Japanese cooking. But duck is native to Japan, so what’s so foreign here? Back in the seventh century, the emperor issued a decree forbidding meat, and the country followed a Buddhist diet of fish and vegetables for more than a thousand years. Once Japanese started eating meat again in the nineteenth century, they called dishes like duck soba nanban—duck is something a foreigner would eat. It’s a convention that continues to this day.

Kaki-age is a kind of tempura where a variety of ingredients are mixed with batter and deep-fried. The result is a delicious tempura patty that is paired here with soba and hot broth for a wonderful play of flavors and textures. You’ll experience a progression of tastes as you enjoy this dish: a crispy and crunchy patty at first, then the broth infusing it more and more, all the while, the tasty tempura crumbs enhancing the broth.

This dish looks simple to prepare, but in Japan it’s the ultimate test for a soba chef. Why? To put it simply, the chef has nowhere to hide. Because this dish is just broth and noodles, a soba master has to prepare both perfectly. In fact, tasting cold soba is the way we judge the quality of a good soba restaurant. At home, of course, it’s a different story. Japanese love preparing this quick, refreshing dish in the summer. The aromatic garnishes are classics that nicely accent the toothsome noodles. Just don’t worry about cooking it “perfectly”—leave that to the soba chefs.

You can whip up these fast and easy noodles in 15 minutes. They’re a typical lunchtime dish in Japan, and the hot soba and broth are especially comforting on a frigid winter day. If you have any leftover chicken, pork, shrimp, or grilled fish in the refrigerator, you can easily add them to this dish, if you’d like. Be sure to shred the chicken or pork. You can also try this soba with cubed firm tofu, which complements the garnishes nicely.

Yakisoba is an extremely popular casual dish in Japan, especially with kids. During the country’s annual summer festivals you can always find yakisoba stands crowded next to shrines and temples, ready to feed hungry visitors. Traditionally, this dish is prepared with pork loin or pork belly, but I think it tastes really wonderful with beef. Also, I prefer to use dried ramen noodles rather than frozen because they stay al dente when added to the stir-fry.

Tsukumen means, literally, “dipping ramen,” and it’s a dish that’s taken Japan by storm. When I was growing up, we didn’t eat ramen this way, but now you can find this dish offered in shops across the country. It’s not hard to understand why—eating ramen in this deconstructed way gives you a chance to enjoy the noodle and each of the garnishes on its own, dipped in the flavorful broth. This dish is also a delicious play between cold ramen and hot broth. Think of it as noodle nouvelle cuisine! Naruto has a signature spiral swirl, and interestingly enough, it’s an ingredient used almost exclusively for ramen (and on rare occasions, udon).

This is a classic ramen dish that was one of my favorites when I was growing up, but today it’s not as popular as it used to be in Japan. That’s a shame, because there’s so much to love about this dish, especially the play between the sweetness of the crab and the crunchiness of the water chestnuts, and the dramatic presentation of a big chunk of omelet sitting atop the noodles. This dish is finished with two kinds of broth, one to serve as the soup, the other to add a bit of sheen as a glaze. I hope you love this ramen as much as I do.

Spice alert: this ramen is guaranteed to make you sweat. These snappy noodles are very popular in Japan, even in the summer—some people, I guess, don’t find our sultry and humid hot season sticky enough! I, for one, prefer this ramen in the winter, because its rich pork and miso broth is warm and comforting.

This is a simple recipe that combines wonderful, distinct flavors. Japanese black vinegar, also referred to as aged rice vinegar, is an artisanal product naturally brewed from rice with a complexity akin to a fine balsamic vinegar. The hot oil adds terrific flavor and great aroma, a perfect accent to this dish—but be very careful heating the oil.

Call this my Japanese-inspired take on cobb salad, except that it’s all vegetarian. It’s a perfect dish for summertime eating. I love sweet and crispy hearts of palm, which are native to Latin America. Try to buy them fresh, if possible, but canned works fine, too. The umeboshi-yuzu vinaigrette lends the vegetables an irresistible tangy and citrusy flavor. Ramen noodles served chilled are springy, chewy, and absolutely delicious.