Memories of Shikoku udon

Name: Memories of Shikoku udon
Yield: Serves four
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 275 g (9 oz) dried udon; 8 dried shiitake mushrooms; 1 cake Japanese fish cake (kamaboko); 1 tbsp dried wakame (seaweed); 2 spring onions, green part only; 1.5 litres (2½ pts) dashi; 5 cakes fresh tofu; 3 tbsp mirin; 4 tbsp light soy sauce; 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced but kept in egg shape; 2 tsp sugar

Preparation info

Serves
four

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Noodle

By Terry Durack

Published 2002

About

To travel around Shikoku, Japan’s southernmost island, is to discover the Japan that existed long before neon signs, mini computers and conveyor-belt sushi. It was here I had my first taste of kamaboko, a fish paste so superior that it even tasted delicious at the crack of dawn. It was also my first serious encounter with udon noodles, the proudest product of Kagawa, on the northern coast. This is my homage to these two wonderful creations.