InsaneJournal

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Why do I only post about food here lately?
I mentioned this over on my LJ when we actually stopped there, but not long ago, the family and I stopped at a new street market nearby. Now, at this market, they had soba, and they had udon. I picked up a pack of each, and have been staring at them trying to figure out what to do with them ever since. I love noodles in strong, Asian-flavored sauces, but they're all so darn hard to make! Especially tonkatsu sauce, which I adore...

Today, I randomly decided to look up recipes for tonkatsu sauce, hoping that I'd find one I could easily modify and that we actually had all the ingredients for. I did, and proceeded to modify it without regard for the final taste until I actually cooked everything together.

My soba is goddamn amazing.

Have a recipe. I'm naming the sauce "mattari" because damn, it's strong, but so gooood. I recommend diluting it with water if you don't like strong and salty sauces, or putting it over a lot more soba than I did.


Mattari sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- Splash of sake
- Splash of mirin

Combine all ingredients in a small glass or metal container. Stir well. Transfer to small metal saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, over a low flame until all ketchup and sugar has dissolved (until scraping the bottom of the saucepan doesn't make the gritty sound of sugar being dragged across the metal) and sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, taste, and dilute with small amounts of water if/as needed.

Soba
- 1-2 "bundles" soba noodles
- Pinch salt
- Mattari sauce

Heat about four cups of hot water on the stove until boiling. Add the pinch of salt and the soba noodles and cook to taste (usually around 10 minutes, possibly more if you like your noodles softer.) Drain cooked noodles in a sieve and rinse with cold water; return to pot. Pour prepared mattari sauce over noodles and stir until all noodles are covered. Return to sieve once more if you'd like to drain off the excess sauce. Serve.


If anyone tries this, tell me what you think? I am totally in love with this sauce and would love opinions.