Today many of my loved ones are down and out with some sort of LA winter bug, so I’ve been running around checking on them.  You see I’m not sick because I just got a flu shot so I’m immune and will be turning into a zombie any day now.  But prior to turning into a flu shot shawty, I was sick too and it was a major bummer.  That day I made myself a homemade soba broth, and it really did the trick.  If you’re under the weather and want in on some soba therapy, you’ll need access to a Japanese market, k?  And this recipe makes about 10 bowls of soba, so please adjust accordingly, or you’ll be eating soba for a week which may or may not actually be a bad thing.

Stuff you’ll need:

14 oz dried soba noodles

1 spring onion

1 package of enoki mushrooms

For the soup:

2/3 cup of mirin

2/3 cup of shoyu

3 3/4 cups water

1 oz kezuri-bushi

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 3/4 cups dashi stock or the equivalent in dashi-no-moto

Here’s what you do:

1.  Typically I’d start by pouring a glass of wine, but if you’re sick, skip the wine and take a swig of DayQuil or something instead.  So we’ll start by making the soup.  Get an extreeeemely large pot.  I mean BIG.  Cookbooks always say “large sauce pan” when what you really need is a giant muhfugger of a pot.  Put the mirin in first and bring it to a boil, then add the rest of the soup ingredients except for the dashi stock.  Bring back to a boil then reduce the heat to low.

2.  Skim off the scum (it’s kezuri-bushi scum, you’ll know it when you see it) and cook for 2 minutes.  Strain the soup then put back into a clean pot with the dashi stock.

3.  Now for noodles.  Bring 9 cups of water to a boil in another big ass pot.  Add in the noodles and stir frequently to prevent them from sticking.

4.  When the water foams, pour in about 1/4 cup of cold water to lower the temperature.  Repeat when the water foams again.  The noodles should be softer than al dente pasta.  Strain the noodles and rinse under cold water.

5.  In your serving bowl, add your hot broth, and then add some soba noodles.

6.  Sprinkle some sliced scallions and some enoki mushrooms.  Other great add-on ideas are tempura or fishcake.

Itadakimasu! Hai!