Aya Nishimura

Mentsuyu

Noodle Sauce

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Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • Makes:

    2 cups

Appears in

Japanese Food Made Easy

Japanese Food Made Easy

By Aya Nishimura

Published 2020

  • About
Preparation: 10 minutes, plus 8 Hours Standing
Cooking: 5 Minutes

This is a concentrated noodle sauce that you can dilute with cold or hot water. It is so versatile – it can also be added to oil to make an amazing salad dressing, used as a flavouring for a stewed dish or even as a dipping sauce for tempura. This sauce will give your cooking an instant Japanese flair. It can be used in place of dashi stock in most recipes.

Ingredients

Pantry

  • 1 cup (250 ml) soy sauce
  • 1 cup (250 ml) mirin
  • ½ cup (125 ml) sake
  • 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
  • 7 cm (2¾ inch) square piece of kombu (dried kelp)
  • 15 g (½ oz) katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
  • 2 dried shiitake mushrooms

Method

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then immediately remove from the heat. Set aside to cool and keep in the fridge overnight.

Strain the sauce through a fine strainer and discard the kombu, katsuobushi and shiitake mushrooms.

Pour the sauce into a screw-top jar and keep in the fridge for up to a month.

© 2020 All rights reserved. Published by Murdoch Books.