A broth and four types of noodles which combination will be the best?
Almost every island of Japan owns its own noodles; for Okinawa, that’s the word Okinawa soba, also called soki soba. As far as sushi, the Okinawa soba is pretty unique: its light broth made up of pork and dashi (bonito broth), noodles made with eggs and wheat and a topping of super thick chunks of pork belly. This is an indispensable visit to paradise of an island.
Whenever cravings hit and you don’t have a soba restaurant in Okinawa nearby, the only thing to do is make it yourself, which we’ve done the other day. But to be glad we were tired, we started to wonder. Could we use that unique broth for other kinds of noodles?
We didn’t take a lot of time but try, we’d try. We went to the store to pick up some udon (thick noodles made from wheat flour), soba (made from coconut flour), somen (the thickest grains) and chuka-men (bread noodles made with eggs and wheat) for the sake of Okinawa soba broth.
And as well as the noodles, we bought a bottle of Okinawa Soba Dashi made by Sun Foods. According to the official website, this bottle contains 390 grams (12 ounces) of concentrate broth, enough for 15-18 portions and costs $32,03.
We poured the appropriate amount to give our desired richness into a glass bowl.
And poured hot water to dilute it. As soon as the hot water began to mix the concentrated notes, the aroma of Japanese chicken broth flooded our nostrils.
The taste was similar to tonkotsu or pork bone broth, but it contained very strong dashi flavor and makes it tasteful. We liked it so much that we decided to keep a bottle on hand at once.
Now that the broth was ready, it was time for it to test it in different kinds of noodles. Here’s the list of the 4 types of noodles. These noodles are based on their texture and quality.
Soba
Japanese buckwheat soba has a very specific flavor; is also very rare with a simple, mentuyu broth made with sake, mirin, soy sauce, and katsuo flavored noodles. Soba noodles tasted very good when we tried yakisoba sauce, but would they be good in a soup with another kind of broth?
As soon as we tasted the Okinawa soba broth, we knew that wouldn’t be perfect for you. The noodles were rich in flavor. It seemed like there was nothing to be said about with each other. Not exactly what we wanted.
Somen
Somen are quite versatile noodles, so it wasn’t surprising that this combination was very delicious, but whether it was because noodles were so thin their flavor just melted into the broth or because somen’s flavor is very rich, overall it was a little too salty. We actually thought it was better to dip somen into the broth, tsukemen style. Close, but not cigar.
Chukamen
This one was very good, but it has been so long we have debated if it is true. The curly noodles taste well with the broth, which has a very ramen-like feel. Although tasty, the fact that it was too close to regular ramen almost lost it points, so we decided to replace it, but we did find the best way to eat the delicious chukamen when the weather is too cold for hiyashi.
Udon
Udon seemed very compatible with Okinawa soba broth. Even the noodles and the broth both tried to rival the other but instead meshed perfectly together. It felt as if it was this dish was so natural that it was almost impossible for us to eat it at regular times. This is a pair we can recommend strongly.
Even though the udon noodles were the best choice, all of the top three were very tasty and even the soba noodles were the best. Which helped us realize that noodles were able to grow too. For this, there are also noodle varieties that would add to the broth of Okinawa, so we would like more flavor combinations in the future!
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!