Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Udon

Two weeks ago, one of my culture groups gathered at one of our members, Midiori's, house to learn how to make udon. Midori's husband Saiki to the day off of work to help us, since Midori says she doesn't know how to make udon!

There were 11 of us crammed into Midori's tiny Japanese house. We had three udon-making stations set up, two on the floor, one on the table.
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Udon is made of flour and salt water
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> You knead the dough for a long, long time. My fingers were getting cramped!
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Next, place the dough inside two plastic bags and knead it some more, with your feet !
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Next comes rolling, rolling, rolling, until the dough is really smooth and flat.
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Fold the dough back and forth over on itself to form 4 layers. You use the small piece of wood, sort of like a trowel, to help make straight cuts and keep the noodle size uniform.
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Fresh noodles ready for boiling
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Saiki-san grilling some tuna on the hibachi
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We cooked the noodles in the back garden, in a huge pot over an open fire
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We also made tons of tempura: shrimp, egglant, sweet potatoe, some green stuff
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The finished product!
The broth is just hot water, soy sauce and boiled pork
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We had a great day! Making udon is really hard work, but knowing how much work we'd put into it made our lunch even more delicious!
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's very impressive! I have a new found appreciation of udon! Aussie Katie

Bryn said...

LOL That's exactly what I said! My arms were sore for the next two days from all the kneading and rolling! Great work out!

shinshu life said...

I'd heard you step on it but thought it was one of those scare the foreigners things. It's for real, hey? Wow.

I love freshmade tempura too. Yummy.

And K is looking over my shoulder and wants to inform you it's probably men-tsuyu noodle broth in a bottle ad not soy-sauce. (pah! same thing I say!)

Gina said...

That udon looks so good! And yum, tempura sweet potatoes, my favorite!!! : )

Bryn said...

Fukases - Saiki-san put on music when it was time for the stepping part, and we danced on our dough! And thanks for the info K! (What is it with Japanese men and udon making?)

Gina - this was my first time having sweet potatoe tempura, I loved it too!

Bryn said...

Fukases - Saiki-san put on music when it was time for the stepping part, and we danced on our dough! And thanks for the info K! (What is it with Japanese men and udon making?)

Gina - this was my first time having sweet potatoe tempura, I loved it too!

Alisa said...

Oh! Wow!
I love reading/viewing all the info on udon making.
I would love to do that before I move!
That bowl of Udon and the Tempura looked SO GOOD!!!!!!!

Amazing! mMMmmmmm