Chilled Soba in Dashi With Tomatoes and Corn
Updated October 10, 2023
Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Suzie Myers.
- Total Time
- About 1 hour 40 minutes, plus at least 1 hour cooling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1½ hours, plus at least 1 hour cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
5 plum tomatoes (about 1½ pounds)
2 medium ears corn, kernels shaved off, cobs reserved
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
⅓ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves, stems reserved and chopped to yield 2 tablespoons
2 scallions, tips trimmed and reserved for dashi, remaining scallions finely sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Fine sea salt
4 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
½ green chile, halved, deseeded and finely chopped
10 ounces dried soba noodles
1 tablespoon white miso
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
74 grams carbs; 400 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 9 grams fat; 4 grams fiber; 1066 milligrams sodium; 15 grams protein; 8 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Use a box grater to roughly grate the tomatoes. Transfer the grated tomatoes to a sieve set over a bowl to collect the liquid; reserve the skins. Once most of the liquid has drained out of the grated tomatoes, transfer the pulp to a small bowl and set aside.
- Step 2
Prepare the dashi: Place the reserved tomato skins, drained tomato liquid, corn cobs, mushrooms, cilantro leaves and scallion trimmings in a medium saucepan with 4 cups of water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 45 minutes until the mushrooms have rehydrated and the dashi is fragrant. Transfer to a metal bowl and place in the fridge to cool.
- Step 3
Mix the corn kernels with 1 tablespoon of oil and ½ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Place a grill pan or cast-iron skillet over high heat, and once hot, add the corn. Stir constantly, as the corn will pop otherwise, until charred and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce to the pan, stirring to evenly coat the corn. Transfer the corn back into the bowl and mix through the vinegar, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, and the remaining tablespoon of oil. Set aside until cool (about 30 minutes), then mix through the reserved cilantro stems, chile and scallions.
- Step 4
Once the dashi is cold, strain, discarding all the solids apart from the mushrooms. Thinly slice the mushrooms and set aside. Measure 2 ½ cups of the dashi, topping up with water or discarding any excess if necessary. Season with 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and the remaining ½ teaspoon of soy sauce. Set aside.
- Step 5
Bring a pan of water up to the boil and cook the noodles as per the packet instructions. Once cooked, strain under cold water until completely cool then divide among four bowls.
- Step 6
Season the reserved tomato pulp with the miso and ⅛ teaspoon of salt.
- Step 7
To serve, pour the dashi over the noodles, around ⅔ cup per bowl, and scatter the corn, tomato and shiitakes on top. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Private Notes
Comments
Just made this tonight. Amazing and a keeper. Taste the dashi and adjust salt accordingly before you assemble! Used a rather large heirloom tomato instead of Romas. Added some furikake to the noodles and sprinkled a little togarashi on the finished bowls. Also added a splash of soy to the sliced mushrooms. Served alongside some teriyaki salmon from the NYtimes.
Delicious! First time I’ve grated tomatoes! The only adjustment I made was just a few pinches of salt in the dashi in the end instead of the 1 1/2 teaspoons due to low sodium diet. Didn’t miss the salt because the rest was so flavorful.
This was a tremendous amount of work for results. I am an experienced, fast home cook. Yet this recipe was time consuming and necessitated multiple re-checks the recipe. End result was refreshing and… OK, I guess? Miso tomato pulp element was the best part. But dashi was underwhelming, even though I'd followed recipe precisely. Since it all goes together in a soupy bowl, multiple divisions of the soy sauce seemed overly complicated. Would not make again.
I have frozen roma tomatos, can I use them? And what about fresh mushrooms?
When does the miso go in?
This was a tremendous amount of work for results. I am an experienced, fast home cook. Yet this recipe was time consuming and necessitated multiple re-checks the recipe. End result was refreshing and… OK, I guess? Miso tomato pulp element was the best part. But dashi was underwhelming, even though I'd followed recipe precisely. Since it all goes together in a soupy bowl, multiple divisions of the soy sauce seemed overly complicated. Would not make again.