Asian - Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vegetarian (or easy fix)
Recipe:
Broth (for 2):
1 t. instant dashi powder (it’s like granulated bouillon – the stuff I get is called “Hon Dashi”
and comes in a little jar)
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. mirin
¾ c. water
Heat all broth ingredients in pan, just to simmer. Chill.
If I’m in a hurry I put in half the water and then add the rest as ice once it’s been heated.
(Actually, you probably don’t even have to heat it, or just enough to dissolve the dashi.)
Cook two bundles of somen. Bring a pan of water to boil, add somen and a glass of water. When it returns to boil, add another glass of water. Next time at boil they should be done. (Or just boil for 2-3 minutes, they cook really fast.) Rinse with cool water. Leave in pan with a few ice cubes to finish chilling. You can serve them with the ice cubes or not (the ice cubes can have added benefit of keeping them wet enough not to stick together).
For the rest, rinse and slice (if necessary) to bite-size any or all of the following:
(hot-house) cucumbers
red peppers
pea pods
carrots
celery
Chinese cabbage
shrimp (cooked, of course)
fake crab
Garnish:
chopped green onions
grated ginger
Divide broth in small bowls (there’s not a lot, eat with chopsticks so it lasts :-). Add a little green onion and ginger. Pile in noodles and whatever veggies and seafood you like; let them soak up the flavor and pick them out. Keep going….. Adding the ginger (especially) and onions as the broth loses flavor keeps it interesting.
