Abura Soba (油そば, brothless ramen)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small saucepan
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Large pot for noodles
• •Deep ramen bowls, warmed before serving
• •Long chopsticks or tongs for tossing

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in the cold water and bring it up slowly until the water trembles and small bubbles climb the side of the pot, 8 to 10 minutes. Pull the konbu before the water boils. Add the katsuobushi all at once, take the pot off the heat, and leave it alone for 2 minutes. Strain without pressing. You need 1/2 cup dashi for the tare.

   Boiled konbu gives bitterness, and squeezed bonito gives rough oiliness. The tare is small, so every harsh taste shows.
2. 2

   Reduce the tare

   Measure 1/2 cup dashi into a small saucepan with the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. Simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, until it reduces to about 1/2 cup and looks glossy on the spoon. Taste one drop. It should seem too salty and a little sweet on its own, because it has to season a whole bowl of noodles without the help of soup.

3. 3

   Ready the bowls

   Warm two deep bowls with hot water, then empty and dry them. Put 2 tablespoons tare and 1 1/2 tablespoons fat or oil in each bowl. If you're using neutral oil, add 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil to each bowl. The warm bowl keeps the fat loose long enough for the noodles to coat themselves instead of cooling into a slick puddle.

4. 4

   Boil the noodles

   Boil the chūkamen in plenty of unsalted water, loosening them as they go in. Fresh ramen noodles usually need 2 to 3 minutes. Taste early and drain while they still have a firm chew. Shake the colander well, but don't rinse. That light surface starch helps the tare cling, and cold water would steal the heat you need for mixing.

5. 5

   Toss while hot

   Drop the noodles straight into the prepared bowls. With chopsticks, lift from the bottom and turn quickly for 20 to 30 seconds, until every strand glints soy-dark and no bare patches remain. If the tare pools underneath, keep mixing. If the noodles feel tight, add a spoonful of noodle water and turn again.

   This is the detail that decides the dish. Mix before you decorate, while the noodles are hot enough to pull the tare and oil together.
6. 6

   Finish at table

   Set the chashu, menma, scallion, nori, and egg if using on top in small groups, leaving some open space in the bowl. Bring rice vinegar and ra-yu to the table. Start each bowl with 2 teaspoons vinegar and 1 teaspoon ra-yu, mix again, then adjust. The vinegar wakes the soy and keeps the oil from tasting heavy. Eat at once.

Chef Tips

• •The word soba misleads. Buy fresh ramen noodles, chūkamen, medium-thick if you can. Buckwheat soba has the wrong fragrance and snap; save it for zaru soba, where it belongs.
• •Prepared chashu from a ramen shop or Japanese market is a sensible stand-in for a weeknight bowl. Slice it thin and warm it gently, because cold pork drags heat out of the noodles.
• •Don't drown the bowl with vinegar and ra-yu before you've tasted it. Start modestly, mix well, then add more. Seasoning at the table is part of the dish, not a repair job.
• •For a meatless table, make the dashi with konbu and dried shiitake, use neutral oil warmed with scallion, and replace the pork with extra menma or blanched greens. That's honmono in the temple-kitchen way, as long as you don't pretend it is chashu.
• •Warm the bowls. It sounds fussy until the first time you skip it and watch the oil sit cold at the bottom. A minute with hot water is enough.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made two days ahead and kept refrigerated.
• •The tare keeps five days refrigerated. Warm it gently before using so it mixes cleanly with the oil.
• •Slice the scallions, cut the nori, and set out the toppings before the noodles cook. Once the noodles are drained, the bowl should move quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)