I love soba noodles! The texture and the smell… It’s so welcoming and perfect for hot summer weather. In Korea, we call these noodles memil guksu (메밀 국수).
Today’s recipe is Japanese version of zaru soba and this noodle is very popular in Korea as well.
Cold soba noodles are served with soba noodle dipping sauce, grated daikon radish, chopped green onions, wasabi and shredded seaweed. It’s very light and refreshing!
It’s a perfect way to beat the summer heat! Hope you give this a try soon!
P.S. If you like this recipe, don’t forget to check out my other soba noodle recipes – Bibim Naengmyeon, Bibim Guksu and Soba Noodles with Sweet Chili Soy Sauce
(FYI, they are all spicy soba noodles!)
Ingredients for Cold Soba Noodles (Serves 4)
Main
- 360g buckwheat noodles / soba noodles
Soba Dipping Sauce
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup tsuyu sauce
- 1 cup rice wine
Sides
- 2 sheets dried seaweed, thinly shredded
- 1 stalk green onion, finely chopped
- 4 Tbsp grated daikon, squeeze the water out from the radish
- (optional) 1 tsp wasabi paste
How to Make Cold Soba Noodles
- Combine the soba dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl. Chill the sauce or slightly freeze its surface in the freezer.
- Boil the buckwheat noodles in boiling water until ready to eat (about 2 to 3 minutes – follow the package instruction.) Drain the water and rinse the noodles under cold water.
- Serve the noodles on a plate (I used bamboo mat) with the soba dipping sauce and side ingredients. Enjoy it and don’t forget to slup!
How to Eat
Add your desired amount of the sides ingredients into the soba dipping sauce bowl then dip the noodles lightly to soak up the sauce. Slup!
Cold Soba Noodles (Memil Guksu)
Ingredients
MAIN
- 360 g buckwheat noodles (soba noodles)
SOBA DIPPING SAUCE
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup tsuyu sauce
- 1 cup rice wine
SIDES
- 2 sheets dried seaweed , thinly shred them with scissors
- 1 stalk green onion , finely chopped
- 4 Tbsp grated daikon , squeeze the water out from the radish
- 1 tsp wasabi paste
Instructions
- Combine the soba dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl. Chill the sauce or slightly freeze its surface in the freezer.
- Boil the buckwheat noodles in boiling water until ready to eat (about 2 to 3 minutes – follow the package instruction.) Drain the water and rinse the noodles under cold water.
- Serve the noodles on a plate (I used bamboo mat) with the soba dipping sauce and side ingredients. Enjoy it and don’t forget to slup!
Nutrition
Actually, the traditional time to eat Korean cold noodles (mul nyangmeon) during the height of winter, even breaking off the ice from the frozen river to put on top of the noodles, though it has become common practice to eat the noodles in the summer as the popularity of the noodles spread through the country in recent times.
I must start learning all these terms and ingredients, if not I can’t have this in summer 🙁
The buckwheat noodles look great.
I’ve eaten those that’s served in ice. Is that part of Korean cuisine?
Hi tigerfish,
Sorry about the computer error so you had to type the comment again, I don’t know what is causing this, but I will try to fix the problem (It happened yesterday too).
We have buckwheat noodles in Korean cooking too, but this recipe is more close to the Japanese cooking style.
I hope you don’t have difficulty in finding the ingredients!
Hi Kat
Thanks for info. It will help me cooking and eating more pleasantly during winter months! 🙂
Hi pockpock
I will do my best to make slurp sounds. 🙂
I have to add one thing that seems the most important when you eat these noodles. Without it, you’ll waste most of the taste of soba.
You have to make sounds when you slurp it. It’ll make us feel eerie when you don’t. 🙂 You gotta enjoy both the taste and the sound. It’s the manner when you eat noodles Japanese style.
Of course, you mustn’t make sounds when you eat other things.
Oh, oh, I’ve never heard of freezing tsuyu, but next summer I’ll try it. It sounds nice on hot days.
The way you ate your soba is what we call “zaru-soba”, which we eat during the summertime. To make a winter version, add warm water to your tsuyu (dipping sauce). For toppings, I put green onions and tororo (a very soft and thinly sliced seaweed). It will definitely warm you up!Happy New Year, Sue! I’ve enjoyed reading all about Korean cuisine and look forward to your posts in 2007!