Saturday, July 07, 2007

yomogi kitsune udon

Today is Tanabata, I wrote about this Japanese festivity last year, here. It is a dreary overcast day. In other parts of Japan (mainly in Kyushu) they are having heavy rains and major flooding. The day is so dreary that I haven't even changed out of my pj's yet.

For lunch, I made yomogi (mugwort)kitsune udon...from scratch. I got the recipe from "Soshoku no susume: Spring recipes".

The first batch was bad...really bad. I put the ingredients into a bowl and mixed it. Then put everything into a plastic bag and started kneading it with my feet. After letting the dough rest in the refrig for about 2 hours, we rolled it out and cooked it. All the yomogi was falling out from the noodles and it was salty in some places...bad. I guess it will be my lunch for the next couple of days.

The second batch was so-so. I put the flour into a bowl and mixed the yomogi with salt and water. I think I need to use yomogi powder for the next time, since this yomogi takes a REALLY long time to reconstitute. The dough was good and there were nice specks of yomogi throughout the dough, but it wasn't the green color that I imagined it to be. After letting the dough rest for 2 hours, we rolled it out and cooked it. It really puffed up and was a nice texture.

I also made some seasoned aburage. I've made this before for kitsune udon and posted a recipe here.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try making this. Serves 4
500g flour
5 or 6 tablespoons of yomogi
salt water (2-1/3 tablespoons salt & 1-1/4 cup water)

Soup: 6 cups stock (fish/kelp)
2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
3/4 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, mix the flour, yomogi and salt water.
When the dough starts to fall apart, put everything into a plastic bag and step on it to knead. Knead until the dough is quite smooth.
Put the dough into the refrig for about 2 hours.
After 2 hours, take out the dough and roll out to 3mm thin. Cut noodles to 5mm wide.
Boil for 10 minutes, rinse and serve with soup and your favorite toppings.

NOTES: use yomogi powder if you can, I didn't have any and the yomogi didn't reconstitute very nicely, so it was quite clumpy in some places. I would also cut back the amount of salt, as it tends to be quite salty after it is cooked. To get the noodles the same size and thickness takes practice, so be prepared for funny looking noodles on your first try, which is how ours turned out. They also puff up a bit, so cutting them thin is better. Still it tasted good and was a good experience.

6 comments:

The Lone Beader® said...

That looks like a fun way to knead the dough:)

Monkey Wrangler said...

I'll have to try kneading my sourdough with my feet sometime......

Jann said...

what darling little toes you have-the better to knead with....actually, I never thought of using my feet to do that! I love learning all these new tricks of the trade! You really worked hard on this recipe-I'm happy it turned out this time!

K and S said...

Thanks Jann, Monkeywrangler & Lone Beader! It is a great way to knead with, and your hands (or feet) don't get dirty!

Take care.
Kat

Nina K. said...

Amazing blog! I love it! I can't believe someone takes more pictures of the food they cook, than me. =) I am no longer a weirdo.
I found you when googling "yomogi powder," cuz I just bought some today on my mother's recommendation. It's good for women's health, apparently. Know any recipe more kantan than homemade udon that uses yomogi powder? I don't have too much time or great kitchen facilities...
Take care!! (p.s. I'm in Tokyo)

K and S said...

Thanks Nina K.

The only other thing I know you can use yomogi powder for is mochi. If you have a microwave, just nuke some pre-made mochi called kirimochi in water to get it soft. Add some of the powder to the mochi, it should turn green while you mix it, just use a little at a time until you get the green color that you want. Then add in an (sweet bean paste) and you'll have a fast dessert.

Hope you'll be able to use the yomogi powder :)

Take care and hope to see you around here more often.
Kat