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–+ servings

Tori Nanban Udon (Japanese Chicken and Leek Udon Soup)

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients 
 

Chicken and Leek

Soup

Slurry

To Serve

Instructions 

  • Cut 100 g Japanese leek (naganegi) into 5cm (2 inches) lengths. Slice 2 sheets fried tofu pouch (aburaage) into thin strips.
    Aburaage (twice fried tofu) thinly sliced and spring onion cut into thick pieces on a wooden chopping board
  • Warm a large frying pan over medium. Once hot, add 1 tsp cooking oil and lay 250 g boneless chicken thigh in the pan skin-side down. Wedge the leek into the empty spaces, keeping every piece in a single layer.
    Frying chicken and spring onion in a large frying pan
  • Fry the chicken undisturbed until the skin is golden brown, then turn it and sear the other side. Roll the leek over occasionally until it's lightly charred all the way around.
    Browned chicken and spring onion in a large frying pan
  • Once the chicken is seared all over, add 400 ml dashi stock and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, then add 1 tsp Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder, 1 tbsp Japanese light soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu), 1 tbsp sake, 1 tbsp mirin and ⅛ tsp salt.
    Dashi poured into pan with chicken and spring onion
  • Give it a good stir, add the fried tofu pouch strips and let it simmer for a few minutes. While you wait, cook your udon noodles and mix 1 tbsp water with 1 tsp potato starch (katakuriko) in a small bowl to make a slurry.
    Tofu and condiments added to broth in pan
  • Mix the slurry right before pouring it into the soup in a thin stream. Stir the broth and continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes and take the pan off the heat when the soup has a light body (do not overcook it or let it get too thick).
    Chicken nanban udon broth lightly thickened with slurry
  • Place 2 portions cooked udon noodles into serving bowls and share the soup, chicken, leek and tofu pouch strips equally between them. Sprinkle with a few pinches Japanese chili powder (shichimi togarashi) and serve hot. Enjoy!
    Completed chicken nanban udon with tofu and spring onion served in a striped bowl

Notes

Bouillon powder strength varies by brand: Mine makes 200 ml of soup per 1 tsp. Use a little less of a stronger one, like 1 tsp per 300 ml, and a little more of a milder one. Taste at the end to avoid oversalting.
Do not add light soy sauce for color: Its pale color is only how it looks. Light soy sauce is saltier than standard Japanese soy sauce, and adding more because the soup looks pale oversalts the bowl in a hurry.
The sear flavors the soup: Crowd the pan or move the pieces early and the chicken and leek steam without browning. Anything that reaches the dashi pale adds no toasty flavor to the soup.
Brown the leek in the chicken fat: Raw Japanese leek tastes sharp, and browning the cut faces turns that sharpness sweet. Leek that reaches the soup still white and wet at the ends keeps its bite.
Regular leek needs a longer sear: Keep the white and pale green sections only. It softens more slowly than Japanese leek, so leave it in the pan until the cut faces are deeply colored before the dashi goes in.
A note on the nutrition figures: In Japan, the broth of a noodle soup like this is not finished to the last drop, so the numbers here assume you drink only about 30 percent of the soup, in line with measured Japanese consumption studies. Finish the whole bowl and the figures, sodium above all, will run considerably higher.