Just Hungry

a hot and steamy bowl of soba noodles to end the year

Even though Christmas has become big business in Japan in recent years, the real holiday at this time of year is New Year's Day. The end of the old year, called shiwasu, is a hectic time, as people are busily celebrating with friends and colleagues at bohnenkai, "forget the year" parties - besides wrapping up things at work and getting ready to go home for the holidays.

New Year's Eve itself, however, is celebrated rather quietly by many people. There isn't the big urge to go to a party, to send off the old year with champagne and fireworks and tooting horns. Instead, people stay at home, and perhaps go to the local temple at midnight, while hearing the 108 rings of the bell to "ring away" the evils of the old year. (Of course, nowadays a lot of people do celebrate by having parties...)

The traditional evening snack to have while waiting to greet the new year is a bowl of hot soba noodles, called toshikoshi soba, which roughly means "end the old year and enter the new year noodles". I'm not sure if there is a set recipe for this soba, but at our house my mother simply prepared a straightforward bowl with hot soup, something on top such as a slice of kamaboko, a rather rubbery fishcake, perhaps some spinach, a raw egg dropped on top just before serving.

Hot soba noodles can be enjoyed at any time of the year of course, but since I usually prefer cold soba, New year's Eve is the only day I have this. It is quite good and comforting.

A note about soba noodles: soba noodles, made from buckwheat, are sold in dried form at Japanese food stores. There are many different brands, at all price ranges. Look for one that has smooth, mostly unbroken (a few strands may break) noodles, and avoid the very cheap brands.

Year-End Noodles (Toshikoshi soba)

Per 1 large bowlful:

• About 60 g / 2 oz. dried soba noodles
• basic dashi stock
• soy sauce
• mirin, or mix sake and sugar
• Toppings such as kamaboko, spinach leaves, egg
• Green onions, finely chopped
• Shichimi Tohgarashi - red pepper spice (see notes)

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Put in the soba noodles and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until the noodles are not quite al dente - it should be cooked through. (Dried soba noodles, unlike dried semolina pasta, is rather delicate so you don't want to cook it in a rolling boil.) As soon as it's done, drain the noodles, and plunge it a bowl of cold water. Change the water frequently as you rinse the noodles. The objective is to get rid of any sort of starchy service on the noodles. Once this is done, drain the noodles and set aside in a colander.

Make the dashi stock if you haven't already, using an extra handful of bonito flakes.

Mix the dashi, soy sauce and mirin in these proportions: 5-7 parts dashi, 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part mirin. Adjust the amount of dashi to your taste.

Heat up the soup. Put in the rinsed soba noodles, and heat until hot.

Put noodles into serving bowls. Add soup, and any toppings. If you're adding a raw egg, add it at the last moment.

While eating, put a little of the chopped green onion and/or shichimi tohgarashi on top.

Shichimi tohgarashi is a mixed ground spice, containing red pepper, dried citrus skin, sesame seeds, etc. It's a commonly used table spice. You could use ground up red papper flakes as a substitute though it won't be the same. It's quite inexpensive and lasts a long time, so look for it at a Japanese food store.

Soup made with dashi, soy sauce and mirin is used for most Japanese noodles. The saltiness or strength of the soup is controlled by the ratio of soy sauce to dashi - the more dashi, the thinner the soup.