Thursday, August 4, 2011

Rockin Recipes: Hazuki Noodles


In the past, my mom has hosted Japanese exchange students for a month or two during the summers. The most recent student, Hazuki, introduced us to the glory of what are now called "Hazuki Noodles."

To us, this is an exotic, scrumptious treat that we like to slurp down when it gets a little on the cold side (which actually happens here during the summer, sorry to those heatwave warriors out there). To her, it's probably the most basic thing in the world and almost laughable that we obsess over it so much.

Without further adieu, I give you HAZUKI NOODLES! (^_^)

The Ingredients:



  • Kikkoman "Soup Base for Noodles" - all I know is that theres all this crazy Japanese writing on it and you can find it at an Asian market.
  • Soba Noodles - again, I'm not exactly sure how you can identify it other than it's in your Asian supermarket and looks like it should be.
  • Water
  • Whatever chopped veggies and other (edible) objects you want. For this one I used broccoli and spinach, but I've also tried it with tofu and mushrooms and that's equally as delicious.

The amounts that you use depend on how much soup you want. These noodles come in these cute little bundles with black ribbon around them, so we just pop open 2 of those babies for the 2 of us.

Make sure you unwrap these away from the stove. I may or may not have started a mini fire and made my house smell like burnt noodles from opening them over the stove.

You will want to cook the noodles and the broth/vegetables mixture separately. While you're boiling the water for the noodles, add 1 part "Soup base for noodles" to 3 parts water. Usually I just eyeball this part - I'm a big broth fan so I tend to go heavy on the liquids.

Once you heat up the broth mixture, put your long-cooking vegetables in there. This would include broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc.


She's so health conscious.

Once you've popped your noodles into the boiling water in the other pot, set the timer for 3 minutes. (I know! They cook really fast!)

After you set the timer, put your quick-cooking vegetables in the broth pot. For mine, this would be the spinach. I put tons of spinach in there since it reduces a lot after boiling and I want to have Popeye muscles. Don't you dare tell me that's a myth.


Before.


After. It's magic!

Once the noodles are fully cooked, strain them and put them into a giant bowl with a lil' broth and you're good to go!


Obviously my bowl was a little larger with a lottt more broth.


Mom's STOKED that I finally cooked dinner for once.


The REAL Hazuki herself. Please ignore the shrine-esque charcoal image of my sister and me on the wall and Izzy's exposed lady-parts.

Note: If you are vegetarian or vegan the above recipe is not for you, as the "Base for noodles" is made with fish...stuff? I don't really know what part of the fish can make a soup base but regardless it is mighty tasty.


Question:

Have you ever hosted or been a foreign exchange student before?
I lived in Sevilla, Spain for a month in a homestay-esque situation - it was amazing!



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