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–+ servings

Chilled Soba Noodles with Sesame Dipping Sauce (Gomadare Soba)

Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 portions

Ingredients  

Sesame Dipping Sauce (Gomadare)

Soba and Toppings

  • 200 g thinly sliced pork belly optional
  • a pinch of salt for the pork
  • 1 Japanese cucumber or Persian, julienned
  • 1 tomato cut into wedges
  • 200 g soba noodles
  • wasabi paste to taste
  • finely chopped green onions to taste

Instructions 

  • In a bowl, whisk 2 tbsp sesame paste (nerigoma), 1½ tbsp yellow miso paste (awase), 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 tbsp ground sesame seeds until the ingredients are evenly distributed into a smooth thick paste.
    miso paste and nerigoma (sesame paste) whisked together with condiments in a bowl
  • Add a splash of ½ tsp unseasoned rice vinegar (komezu) and whisk to loosen, then add 250 ml dashi stock a little at a time and whisk vigorously between each addition.
    pouring dashi into miso and sesame paste mixture
  • Continue to add the dashi until it reaches your desired dipping consistency, then stir in 1 tsp toasted sesame oil. Set aside for later, store in the fridge if you want it chilled.
    homemade sesame dipping sauce for soba noodles
  • Cut 200 g thinly sliced pork belly into bitesize pieces and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Julienne 1 Japanese cucumber and cut 1 tomato into wedges.
    meat and vegetables prepped for gomadare soba
  • Heat a pan and add a splash of cooking oil. Once hot, add the pork belly and stir fry until cooked through and no more pink is showing. Set aside for later.
    thinly sliced pork seared in a frying pan on the stove top
  • Heat a pot of water to a rolling boil and cook 200 g soba noodles according to the package instructions. Once cooked, pour through a colander to drain and rinse with fresh cold water, rubbing them gently to remove any starch. Drop the noodles into a bowl of ice water to chill and tighten them.
    Chilling soba noodles in an ice water bath in a steel mixing bowl lined with a mesh strainer
  • After a few minutes, drain the noodles hard and gently press them to remove any excess moisture.
    cooked soba noodles in a sieve over a bowl
  • Serve the noodles on a zaru or tray, and arrange the pork and vegetables on a communal plate. Pour the gomadare into individual dipping bowls along side a small plate of condiments like wasabi paste, finely chopped green onions and extra sesame seeds.
    cooked and chilled soba noodles on a bamboo tray (zaru), next to seared pork, tomato wedges and julienned cucumber on a plate, next to sesame sauce and a small plate with sesame seeds, chopped green onions and wasabi for toppings.
  • Serve, dip, and enjoy!
    Cooked and cooled soba noodles on a bamboo tray (zaru) next to a small bowl of homemade sesame dipping sauce

Notes

Build the sauce in this order: Mix the sesame paste, ground sesame, sugar, and miso first, then the vinegar until glossy, then the dashi a little at a time, sesame oil last. Add the liquid too fast and the paste seizes into grainy clumps.
If the sauce seizes, bring it back: Grainy or split sauce is not ruined. Warm it gently and stir a little liquid back in until it turns smooth and glossy again.
No nerigoma? Rebuild the roast: Chinese sesame paste is the closest swap since it is also fully roasted. With tahini, add a few drops of toasted sesame oil and a spoon of toasted ground sesame so the sauce gets its roasted aroma back.