In Japan, where it gets plenty hot in the summer, cold soba noodles, served with a dipping sauce, are a common snack or light meal. Soba are brown noodles, made from wheat and buckwheat, and the sauce is based on dashi, the omnipresent Japanese stock.

You would recognize the smell of dashi in an instant, even if you have never knowingly eaten it. It's a brilliant concoction based on kelp, a seaweed, and dried bonito flakes. It is also among the fastest and easiest stocks you can make, and its two main ingredients – which you can buy in any store specializing in Asian foods – keep indefinitely in your pantry. I would encourage you to try making it, though you can also use chicken stock (or instant dashi, which is sold in the same stores).

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Salt
1cup dashi or chicken stock
¼cup soy sauce
2tablespoons mirin or 1 tablespoon honey mixed with 1 tablespoon water
8ounces soba noodles
Finely grated or minced ginger
Minced scallions or toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt it. Cook noodles until tender but not mushy. Drain, and quickly rinse under cold running water until cold. Drain well.
Combine dashi or stock, soy sauce and mirin. Taste, and add a little more soy if the flavor is not strong enough. Serve noodles with garnishes, with sauce on side for dipping (or spooning over).

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The soba noodles need to be really cold. Prior to cooking the noodles have a large bowl of ice water handy, with plenty of ice. Once the noodles are to taste, quickly drain and plunge into the ice water. Work by hand until the noodles are ice cold, then drain thoroughly and serve immediately.

Thanks Mr. Bittman, these noodles were great with beautiful North Fork L. I . sliced radishes, cukes, scallions, and shredded carrots mixed in, topped with sliced poached chicken breast and sauce. A wonderful, light summer supper.

You are supposed to dip the soba into the sauce and eat, it’s not a soup. I hope this was helpful ( ◠‿◠ )

Wasabi instead of ginger is good. Also crumbled rt cut toasted nori sheet can be sprinkled on the soba noodles.

oh god I love cold soba noodles! They're so refreshing, but what Bittman omits here is that you need to save a little bit of the noodle water (just like when cooking other pastas) to mix into your dipping sauce. Diviiiiine!

The star of this show is the noodles, not the sauce. Good soba (preferably 100% buckwheat, if you can find them) are gorgeous, richly but delicately flavored, and the goal here is to lightly season the noodles without obscuring or detracting from their flavor. Know what you're looking for here, and buy good soba!

I just returned from Japan and had soba and dipping sauce a number of times... The sauce was very Bland. There wasn't a crazy amount of flavor so it doesn't surprise me that this recipe is also very mild or bland...

Traditionally, the condiments would include thinly sliced green onion, wasabi, and grated Daikon radish. Mix into the cool broth before dipping the noodles. In Japan, they serve a little pot of the hot noodle water to mix with your leftover dipping sauce to drink at the end as you would tea.

Soy sauce with sugar how can it be no flavor???

The sauce keeps in the fridge in a jar for a couple weeks. There's a special little dipping cup with a lid that's used in Japan to serve the sauce in. Just pour a small amount of sauce into a small bowl or cup to dip your noodles into and retain the rest for another hot day.

Truly enjoyed this homemade option to purchasing Tsuyu in the shops...which almost always has MSG. I loved the natural options...substituting mirin for honey...I used a bit of bone broth and then made the tradition Soba-Cha with the added benefits of the bone broth for the after tea! Thank you so much for your recipe. I loved it!

Used miso instead of dashi. Wouldn’t recommend it...

Tossed the noodles in a little toasted sesame oil. A huge hit! This recipe tasted just like the cold soba I get in my favourite restaurant.

you probably didnt put enough. if it didnt taste like anything, then you could have adjusted it.

Loved this recipe. I used chicken broth but still added a tiny bit of Hondashi powder for some extra umami. Enjoyed the dipping sauce a lot. In Japan they offer hot water (from what was used to cook the noodles in so it’s a little starchy), and you add it to your sauce to make a soup.

The dipping sauce was bland. The next time I'll use dashi instead of chicken stock. Maybe that will add more flavor.

I got fresh Korean buckwheat noodles from the Asian store. I made this in a bowl (as opposed to dipping) with halved cherry tomatoes, scallions and some homemade ponzu sauce. Topped it off with furikake. Perfect for a 90 degree day.

Delish! Served with roasted chicken thighs. I'll add more ginger next time.

Sobaaaaaaaaa forever

Lovely, simple, refreshing. Soba has such a good flavor it doesn't need much sauce so this is perfect. We enjoyed it last week and will make it again, with scallions stirred in and fried ginger sprinkled on top, during this upcoming very hot week.

Is the dipping sauce supposed to be served warm or cold?

Very easy, tasty summer supper. Only boil the noodles for about 3 minutes. I wasn't crazy about the chicken stock that we used, so I'll look for dashi next time.

YUUUM! So simple, so amazing. I know traditionally you’re supposed to dip the noodles in the sauce, but I just ate it as a noodle soup. I’m vegan so I used kombu dashi instead. First time I made it according to the recipe, second time I subbed ginger for garlic chili oil. Both were winners!

Wow this was an amazing and simple recipe. Perfect for summer days! Serve with green tea.

Although the ingredient list calls for finely grated ginger, it is not mentioned anywhere in the cooking instructions. An unusual omission from one of Mr. Bittman’s carefully crafted recipes. I assumed it was to be added to the dipping sauce.

There's a comma (along with an extra line space and a cap at the next line) after the word ginger, so I think the last three lines are meant to read: "Finely grated or minced ginger, minced scallions or toasted sesame seeds for garnish"

This was delish. I poured the sauce over the noodles. I wish I had dashi, but chicken broth was great. I had the noodles w some leftover ribs & caramelized veggies on the side

Used vegan chicken broth, and it turned out great! The key here is good soy sauce.

These are great on a hot august day in Georgia, I made Eric Kim’s tofu, the one from the imitation chicken McNuggets recipe, just to add some protein. Worked with the dipping sauce as well.

Put 30 g konbu in 4 cups water uncovered to reach boiling point - (remove Konbu just before water boils. Insert thumbnail into fleshiest part of the kelp if soft - sufficient flavor. If tough, return to pot for 1 to 2 minutes.) Keep from boiling by adding a dash of cold water. After removing konbu bring stock to a full boil. Add 1/4 cup cold water to bring temp down and immediately add 30 g bonito flakes. No need to stir. Bring back to boil & remove at once! Let settle, strain w cheesecloth.

What do you do with the ginger?

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