Japanese noodle soup with chicken leg

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 400 g wheat flour
• 180 ml mineral water, cold
• 5 g salt
• 4 chicken legs
• 1 spring onion(s)
• 1 carrot(s)
• 1 small Chinese cabbage
• 100 g soy sprouts
• 500 ml water
• 15 g Dashi no moto (dashi broth base made from bonito fish powder
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp oil, tasteless

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Tori Katsu Udon. Clear Japanese noodle soup made from wheat flour noodles and dashi broth

For the udon noodles, mix the flour with the salt and cold mineral water until a firm dough forms. This is best done with a kneading machine for 5 minutes or until the dough reaches the thickness of the noodles. The dough must be firm, otherwise it will fall apart in the hot water. Let the dough cool for 30 minutes. In the meantime, debone the chicken thighs, leaving the skin on. Cut off the soft part of the top of the Chinese cabbage and the hard stalk at the bottom. Cut the middle part into bite-sized pieces. Wash the soybean sprouts, remove any dry leaves and roots from the spring onions, then wash and cut into thin, diagonal slices. Peel the carrots and cut into thin strips, ideally using an asparagus peeler. These should also be cut into bite-sized pieces. Roll out the udon noodle dough and use a pasta machine to cut into strips of ribbon noodles approximately 5 mm thick. If you don’t have a pasta machine, you’ll need to fold the dough three or four times (dust it well with flour to prevent it from sticking) and then cut it into 5 mm strips using the largest knife. Immediately add them to a pot of hot, boiling water and simmer for 6-8 minutes. In a pot, heat the soy sauce, mirin, water, dashi no moto, sugar, and half the oil. Add the carrot and Chinese cabbage and simmer for about 5 minutes. Heat the other half of the oil in a pan and fry the chicken thighs, skin-side down, for about 5 minutes (or until the skin is browned). Then turn and cook until cooked through. Drain the noodle water as usual and place the udon noodles in deep plates, top with the bean sprouts and spring onion rings, pour the hot soup over the noodles and top it all off with the fried chicken thigh, which has been removed from the pan onto a piece of kitchen paper (to absorb any excess fat) and then cut into bite-sized pieces using a sharp butcher’s knife.