Udon soup

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 400 g udon noodles
• 200 g chicken fillet(s)
• e.g. soy sauce
• 1 shot of sake
• 1 carrot(s)
• 6 shiitake mushrooms or similar
• 1,150 ml dashi or other broth
• 100 g leaf spinach
• 2 spring onions
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 4 eggs

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 5 minutes

A Japanese noodle stew that is perfect for the cold season.

The preparation takes a little time, but the cooking is much quicker afterwards. Bring 1.5 liters of water to a boil and cook the noodles for 10 minutes. Be careful that it doesn’t foam; add a little cold water if necessary and stir occasionally so that the noodles don’t stick together. Place the noodles in a sieve and refresh with cold water. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and marinate for 10 minutes with a generous splash of soy sauce and sake. Peel and slice the carrot. Clean the mushrooms and also cut them into slices about 0.5 cm thick. Wash and sort the spinach. Cut the spring onions into pieces about 2.5 cm long. Depending on the consistency and cooking time, add the ingredients one by one to the 1150 ml broth with mirin. So first add the carrot slices, after about two minutes the chicken, and after another two minutes the mushrooms (if you want to add bok choy or something else, add these ingredients accordingly). Season with mirin, soy sauce, and pepper. Now divide the noodles into four soup bowls in portions. Sprinkle a few spinach leaves on top and then ladle in the soup. Preheat the oven to 200°C (top/bottom heat). Break a beaten egg into each soup bowl and place the serving bowls in the oven for about ten minutes, until the egg is set. Serve the soup bowls straight from the oven with chopsticks. And remember: in Japan, slurping is allowed while eating soup. Tips: Feel free to vary the ingredients for the stew. If you like, you can add Japanese eggplant or pak choi, for example. The broth used in the soup is traditionally Japanese dashi, which is a fish broth. Since there are always people who absolutely do not like the taste of fish, I like to use vegetable broth instead.