Green Tea Soba Soup with Shrimp & Shiitakes

Cooking Instructions

1. Put a large pot of lightly salted water on to boil for cooking soba.

2. Bring an inch of lightly salted water to a boil in a shallow pan or deep skillet. Add spinach, cover, and steam over low heat until leaves have collapsed, about 2 minutes. Drain. When the spinach is cool enough to handle, form into a sausage-shaped bundle (about 6 inches long) and transfer to a clean towel. Gently squeeze to remove excess water. Cut crosswise into 6 rounds.

3. Place Dashi, soy sauce, sugar, mirin and mushrooms in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 5 minutes. Keep warm.

4. Add soba to the boiling water and cook until al dente, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under hot water.

5. Add shrimp and tofu to the hot dashi mixture and cook over low heat until the shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes.

6. For each serving of soup, use a two-pronged carving fork to twirl one-sixth of the soba into a coiled nest. Transfer the nest to a large soup bowl and place a round of spinach, cut-side up, by the noodles. Carefully ladle soup around the spinach and noodles, making sure to include several mushroom slices, shrimp and pieces of tofu. Garnish with scallions.

Related Recipe: Dashi