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–+ servings

Somen Salad with Japanese Sesame Dressing

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 3 servings

Ingredients 
 

Sauce

Somen Salad

  • 1 egg
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 drizzle cooking oil
  • ½ tomato
  • 25 g boiled wood ear mushroom boiled and sliced
  • ½ Japanese cucumber
  • ¼ carrot
  • 5 g ginger root
  • 20 g imitation crab or ham/kamaboko (or plant-based alternative)
  • 2 tbsp canned sweet corn
  • 200 g dry somen noodles
  • ice cubes optional

Instructions 

  • Place a dry frying pan on the stove and turn on the heat to medium-high. Add 4 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds and toast until you can smell the aroma and they've turned lightly golden.
    toasting white sesame seeds in a frying pan
  • Transfer the sesame seeds to a mortar and pestle (or a pepper mill etc) and grind to a fine powder.
    Grinding white sesame seeds with a Japanese mortar and pestle (suribachi and surikogi)
  • Add the ground sesame seeds, 4 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise, 2 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), 2 tsp toasted sesame oil and 1 tsp wasabi paste in a container and mix thoroughly. Chill in the fridge until it's time to serve.
    Sesame dressing in a glass measuring jug
  • Heat a frying pan on medium-low and coat with 1 drizzle cooking oil using a paper towel to spread evenly and remove the excess.
    wiping excess oil in a pan with a piece of kitchen paper
  • While it's heating, whisk 1 egg in a bowl with 1 pinch salt.
    how to make kinshi tamago crack 2 eggs
  • Pour the whisked egg through a sieve to make it smooth.
    how to make kinshi tamago strain eggs
  • Pour a thin layer of egg into the pan (you might need to do this in batches if your pan is small) and fry until 80% cooked.
    how to make kinshi tamago cook 80%
  • Peel the egg out of the pan, roll and cut into thin slices.
    how to make kinshi tamago cutting
  • Thinly slice 25 g boiled wood ear mushroom and ½ tomato. Peel and julienne ¼ carrot and 5 g ginger root. Julienne ½ Japanese cucumber with the skin still on and use a fork to shred 20 g imitation crab. Drain 2 tbsp canned sweet corn.
    shredded imitation crab on a wooden chopping board
  • Boil 200 g dry somen noodles according to the instructions on the packaging. (Approx 2 minutes.)
    somen noodles boiling in a pot
  • Pour the noodles through a sieve and rinse with cold running water to halt the cooking process and cool them quickly. Place some ice cubes in there to chill them further.
    somen noodles being chilled with ice in a sieve
  • Place the chilled noodles on a serving plate and arrange the vegetables and imitation crab on top.
    somen salad complete with julienned vegetables, shredded imitation crab and thinly sliced egg crepe (kinshi tamago)
  • Drizzle with the homemade sesame dressing.
    Somen salad served in a glass dish with imitation crab, kinshi tamago, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot, woodear mushrooms and sweetcorn served with thick and creamy wasabi and sesame dressing.
  • Mix thoroughly before eating and enjoy!

Notes

If you would prefer to serve somen salad with a classic soy sauce and vinegar based dressing, check out the sauce I use for my hiyashi chuka recipe!