[title]
In the old world, if it was udon you were after, a trip to Koya was almost always a very good answer. Now the Japanese restaurant has revealed the recipe for one of its most famous dishes. Time for some lockdown comfort food.
Kinoko and walnut miso udon (serves four)
What you need
Udon, four servings
Four handfuls of mushrooms (a mixture of whatever you can get)
Half a head of hispi cabbage
1.5 litres of dashi [stock] of your choice (we use a combination of dried shiitake, kombu, iriko, bonito etc)
24g soy sauce (usukuchi if you have it)
12g mirin
35g sugar
10g salt
60g walnuts
8g red miso
8g white miso (just one kind of miso is fine too)
What you need to do
Prepare the dashi of your choice
1. Soak 15g kombu overnight in 1.5 litres of water. Then take out the kombu, bring [liquid] to boil and add 15g bonito, turn off the heat and strain. If these are unavailable, most dried vegetables give out great umami and can be used as substitutes. We have tried smoked mackerel in the past, too.
2. Place mirin in microwave for one minute at 600W.
3. Add 15g sugar to mirin and mix until dissolved.
4. Add mirin, usukuchi soy sauce and half the amount of salt into the dashi and bring to boil.
5. Once almost boiling, taste and see if you’d like more salt and season to your liking, and keep aside.
Make the walnut miso
1. Roast the walnuts in oven or in a frying pan.
2. Shake off any burnt skin in a colander.
3. Grind the walnuts in a food processor or pestle and mortar. You want them to still look walnut-shaped but to be coarsely ground.
4. Bring a tablespoon of water to boil and add the remaining sugar. Melt, then add miso to make a paste.
5. Stir this into the bowl of walnuts and mix well until all combine.
Put it all together
1. Cut or hand-tear mushrooms into bite-sized [pieces] and mix.
2. Cut cabbage into bite-sized chunks.
3. Start cooking the udon when you’re ready to eat, and drain.
4. Bring dashi to the boil and add the mushrooms. Then, once this boils again, add cabbage and pour this into the cooked udon.
5. Serve with a small plate of walnut miso for you to mix into the dashi as you eat.
More iconic London recipes: