Tororo Soba is a Soba noodle dish with gooey grated Nagaimo

Tororo Soba is a Soba noodle dish with gooey grated Nagaimo.  It could be hot or cold although the recipe here is a cold version. Zaru Soba is the very basic and most popular soba dish, but Tororo Soba is also found on the menu at any Soba restaurant in Japan.  Cold Tororo Soba is a great dish during summer for Nagaimo’s rich nutrition and coolness of Soba when you don’t have much appetite from heat outside.

Soba is a popular Japanese food in the US, and dried Soba noodles can be found at most supermarkets here.  One of the reasons why Soba is popular here is because Soba is much healthier than other noodles made from refined flours.  Soba has fewer calories and more nutrients such as Vitamin B, various minerals, and fiber.  Another reason is that Soba doesn’t contain any gluten.  Recent interest in gluten free diets may also be contributing to the popularity of Soba noodles.

Nagaimo is one of a very few potatoes that can be eaten raw.  It is slimey when the skin is peeled, and it has a crispy texture when it is eaten cut; however, it has totally a different texture when grated.  It is gooey and slimey, and you may not like the mouth feel at first if you’re not use to that kind of vegetables.  Nagaimo contains a lot of nutrients such as potassium, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that helps digestion too. All in all, Tororo Soba is very good for you on top of being tasty.

Tororo Soba is often topped with a quail egg; however, it can be hard to find quail eggs here in the US.  We used a regular egg yolk here. Even though using organic eggs, there is a risk to eat raw eggs.  If you’re worried, just omit yolks from the recipe.

If you’re too hot to eat anything in summer, Tororo Soba is a quick and easy and nutritious food to make.  Try it!

Tororo Soba Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients :

150-200g dried Soba

5 Shiso leaves or 2 green onions

300g Nagaimo

2 egg yolks

Mentsuyu

Wasabi

Instructions :

Cook dried Soba according to the package. Rinse under running water and strain well.

While cooking Soba, slice Shiso leaves thin and finely. Grate Nagaimo with fine grater. Separate egg yolks and whites.

Place cooked Soba in a deep bowl, add grated Nagaimo, a yolk, and Shiso. Pour Mentsuyu (diluted by the equal amount of water).

 Add a little Wasabi if you like.