Soba Noodle Soup with Tempura Shrimp

When it's cold out, the best way to beat the freezing temperature is to have a bowl of piping hot soup. There are, of course, a lot of delicious soup out there to eat, but Soba Noodle Soup with Tempura Shrimp has been on my mind lately, so I decided to fix it for dinner... and voilà! Garnished with sliced scallions, served with Narutomaki (Japanese Fishcake) & hard boiled eggs, this soup is an absolute winner.

Serves: 2 people

Ingredients:

- Soba noodles (2 rolls)

- 8 pieces of Narutomaki (Japanese fishcake) 

- 1 scallion, sliced

Dashi:

- 4 1/2 cup water

- 1/4 cup loosely packed kezurikatsuo (shaved bonito)

- 3" piece of dried dashi kombu

- 2 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp mirin

- 2 tsp sugar

- Salt to taste

Shrimp Tempura (Makes 12 pieces):

- 12 large shrimp

- 1 egg

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 1 cup iced water

- Vegetable oil for frying

- Flour for dusting

Directions:

For the dashi, bring the water to a boil in a pot. Once it boils, turn the heat down to maintain a gentle simmer (boiling makes the stock cloudy). Put the dry bonito flakes into a disposable soup bag and tie the top. Drop the satchel in the water along with the kombu. Let this steep for about 30 minutes, then discard the soup bag. Add the seasonings to make the soup base.

For the shrimp, remove heads and shells from shrimp without removing tails. Devein the shrimps. Make two or three incisions on the stomach side of the shrimp to straighten them. Lightly press the back of shrimp to straighten. Remove the dirt from the tails of shrimp, using a knife. Dry shrimps on paper towels. Beat an egg in a bowl. Add ice water in the bowl. Add sifted flour in the bowl and mix lightly. Heat the oil to 340-350 degrees F. Lightly flour shrimp. Pick the tail and dip shrimp in the tempura batter. Immediately deep-fry the shrimp until crisp.

Boil a large pot of water and boil the soba for the length of time specified on the package. When they’re done, rinse them under cold water and set aside.

Transfer the soba into two bowls, top them with narutomaki, hard-boiled eggs, tempura shrimp, and scallions. Pour the dashi broth over everything, serve immediately. If you like an extra color and kick, you can serve the soba with shichimi togarashi (Japanese 7 spice chili flakes).