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Purple Noodles in Dashi Broth with Clear Soy Sauce
In a nutshell
A steaming bowl of noodle soup is delicious on cold, dark days. In Japan, noodle soups have been a favorite for centuries: they’re often simple and quick to prepare, and above all, incredibly flavorful. The base of this soup is dashi, a light Japanese broth rich in umami. Combined with mirin, fresh ginger, and soy sauce, it creates a delicious, savory base for the noodles.
For this colorful version, we use purple sweet potato noodles and clear soy sauce; Unlike regular soy sauce, this one doesn't discolor the broth, so it stays nice and clear and the beautiful purple color of the noodles really stands out. With green bok choy, scallions, pickled daikon, and a pinch of shichimi togarashi, it becomes a wonderful dish. Extra fun for Halloween, but just as delicious any other day!
What's great about this soup? It's ready in just 15 minutes on the table, and you can endless variations with the toppings. Think mushrooms, tofu, or other seasonal vegetables. Simple, warming, and delicious comfort food!
Ingredients and supplies
- 350 ml dashi (you can use instant powdered dashi packets or make your own dashi with katsuobushi and kombu, or shiitake and kombu for a vegan version)
- 1 tbsp clear soy sauce
- 2 tsp mirin
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- a piece of fresh, young ginger from our own greenhouse (about 2 cm), cleaned and grated
- salt, to taste
- 100–120 g fresh purple sweet potato noodles
- 1–2 mini bok choy
- a few slices of pickled daikon
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- a few small sheets of nori
- a pinch of shichimi togarashi, to taste
Preparation
- Pour the dashi into a small saucepan and heat until it’s just about to boil. Add the light soy sauce, mirin, and sugar (if using). Let it heat gently for 1–2 minutes. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Taste and, if needed, add a small pinch of salt or a little of the other seasonings. Remove from the heat or keep warm over very low heat.
- Bring two pots of water to a boil: one for the bok choy and one for the noodles.
- Cut the mini bok choy in half lengthwise, or cut larger ones into quarters. Blanch them for 1–2 minutes in boiling water, until the stems are al dente and the leaves are tender. Drain.
- Add the purple noodles to the other pot of water and cook them according to the package directions. Drain and, if necessary, rinse very briefly with warm water to remove excess starch.
- Stir the grated ginger into the dashi broth.
- Place the noodles in a deep bowl and pour the hot, clear dashi broth around them. Arrange the mini bok choy, nori, and pickled daikon neatly on top of the noodles.
- Sprinkle with the green onions and a little shichimi togarashi. Serve immediately.
Tips
Use fresh, young ginger. A little finely grated fresh ginger gives the broth a fresh, slightly spicy flavor. Add it only toward the end so that the fresh aromas are well preserved. If ginger is out of season, you can also use dried ginger. In that case, peel and grate the ginger first, then squeeze the juice from the ginger into the soup; the pulp from dried ginger can be a bit less pleasant in a noodle soup like this.
Serve immediately. The noodles taste best when they still have a little bite to them. So serve the soup right after you've added the hot broth.
Preparing in advance: You can easily make the dashi broth ahead of time and store it, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 days. Reheat it just before serving, and add the fresh ginger, noodles, and toppings at the very last moment. This way, the broth stays clear, and the noodles retain their beautiful color and texture.
