RECIPE: Yellowtail and Yuzu Soba
Yuzu adds the perfect dash of refreshing citrus flavor to this delicious yellowtail soba noodle bowl. Complete with silky smooth noodles, flaky fish, and umami broth, this dish is bright and filling.
This soba recipe consists of three main components:
Yellowtail and vegetable toppings - We marinate our yellowtail in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and fresh yuzu slices. Yuzu is a highly fragrant citrus fruit that is described as a cross between lemon, grapefruit, and mandarin orange. A common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, it is often used to highlight the natural sweetness of seafood. We fry the marinated yellowtail alongside sliced mushrooms and spring onions to form the toppings for the noodle bowls.
Soba noodles - Soba is a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour. We recommend using 100% buckwheat soba noodles, but any variety of frozen or fresh soba will also work! Simply cook for 30 seconds less than the package instructions state.
Bonito and konbu-based stock - Our umami-rich soup derives it flavor from a combination of katsuoboshi (bonito flakes) and konbu (kelp), as well as shirodashi (white dashi) and yuzu. We recommend using this katsuobushi, which is made from skipjack tuna that is caught and dried in Kagoshima prefecture, and this konbu, which is harvested in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido.
Feel free to add extra toppings to this soba noodle soup as you wish. Other traditional soba toppings include soft-boiled egg, narutomaki (fish cake), sliced green onion, wakame seaweed, blanched greens, and shichimi togarashi (Japanese chili flakes).
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
- 250g yellowtail (deboned and cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- Handful of mushrooms (diced)
- Handful spring onions (chopped)
- 2 tbsp shirodashi (can also substitute with soy sauce*)
- 1 tbsp starch diluted in 2 tbsp water
- 2 servings of soba (we recommend 100% soba noodles)
A.
B.
- 750ml water
- 80g katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
- 30g konbu (kelp)
Instructions:
- Marinate the yellowtail in a bag with the mixed ingredients from A for 10 mins.
- Meanwhile, put the ingredients from B into a pot on medium heat. Before boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 mins. Remove the katsuobushi and kelp.
- Remove the yellowtail from the bag in step 1. Save the remaining sauce in the bag and the yuzu slices separately.
- Pour sesame oil in a pan on medium heat and add the yellowtail. Cover and cook for 2-3 mins. When one side is cooked, flip and cook the other side for 2-3 mins.
- Remove the yellowtail from the pan and set aside. Add the mushrooms and spring onion to the pan and cook with the remaining sauce from step 3.
- Add the white dashi (or soy sauce), starch diluted in water and yuzu slices from step 3 to the stock from step 2 onto medium heat. When boiling, add the the soba and cook to 30 secs below the package cooking instructions. Remove the noodles (but keep the soup), rinse under cold water and drain any excess water.
- Serve the soba in a bowl. Add the soup from step 6 and top with the cooked yellow tail, mushrooms and spring onion.
*Available in our Creative Beginnings: Redefining "Wa" Care Package
Introduction courtesy of Britney Budiman
Britney Budiman (@booritney) is a writer, minimalist, aspiring effective altruist, and runner-in-progress with a penchant for saying “yes.” Previously, she has worked in Cambodia at a traditional arts NGO, in Brazil as a social sciences researcher, and in San Francisco at a housing start-up. She currently lives in the countryside of Kagoshima, Japan, where she teaches English. Her favorite thing in the world is good conversation.
