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Dashi-maki tamago (home-style Japanese omelet)

Time1 hour 15 minutes
YieldsServings: 4
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When I go back to Japan, some people assume that I head straight for sushi bars. But my favorite pastime is making pilgrimages to artisanal soba shops. If there is one food I love with a passion, it is soba, the thin, earthy-looking buckwheat noodles. I enjoy their natural sweet flavor and nutty aroma and eat them for lunch three or four times a week, and sometimes for dinner too.

I’m not the only one who places soba on such a high pedestal. “Soba is the best Japanese food there is,” my friend Noritoshi Kanai said to me the other day. An active 86 years, he has a breakfast ritual that consists of a bowl of soba seven days a week, surpassing even my soba consumption.

Kanai likes soba because it makes him feel soboku -- a quality Japanese people treasure that means to be simple, natural, modest and elegant in an unadorned way. Considering this is the Japanese American businessman who brought the first sushi bar to the U.S., it’s amazing what soba can do to keep one’s ego in check.

Then comes the year’s end, when the number of soba enthusiasts multiplies. Japanese people practice an old custom on New Year’s Eve called toshikoshi soba, eating “Passing of the Year” soba to bring good luck and good fortune. The shape and length of soba are associated with a lean and long life.

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Keep it simple

But soba is by no means an haute, complicated or new-wave noodle. Pure and simple, it’s never masked with heavy, oily sauces. Instead it’s usually eaten cold and plain with a dipping sauce or hot in a soy-based broth.

You can, however, pair soba with a variety of side dishes.

One classic accompaniment is tamago. You have probably eaten tamago at a sushi bar. It is an egg omelet that is made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg. It’s seasoned with soy sauce, sugar and dashi, a fragrant broth made with dried bonito flakes and konbu (seaweed).

By adding dashi to the eggs, you get a juicy and savory omelet that is lighter in texture and flavor than its butter-based Western counterpart.

Some tamago can be sweet like a dessert custard. I hold off on the sugar and make a milder version. The tamago you see at sushi bars is usually rectangular or square because it is made in a special pan. I use a standard round pan to make mine. Not everything has to be square.

Kanai likes his morning soba with satsuma-age, or deep-fried fish balls, and a handful of fresh bean sprouts. It’s a good combination of protein and vitamins to balance out the meal.

Satsuma-age is kind of like a sausage ball, except that it is made with minced fish and vegetables.

Satsuma-age originated in Kagoshima on the southern tip of the island of Kyushu where there is an abundance of fish. The people there call these deep-fried fish balls “tempura.” But unlike the standard tempura, satsuma-age are not coated in a batter, so they’re lighter.

Eat satsuma-age just out of the oil while they are hot and crispy. If you have any fear of deep-frying, like I once did, this is a good entry-level tempura to practice with.

They are also tasty at room temperature. You can grill them on the barbecue or put them in hearty nabe (stews). Satsuma-age is a good standby dish to have on hand because it freezes well.

Soba should be served immediately. The noodles will lose their al dente texture if you let them sit around too long.

When serving tamago or satsuma-age with soba, make the side dishes first and have plenty of grated daikon to serve as a condiment. Then boil the soba noodles, which takes one to five minutes, depending on the thickness of the soba and on whether you are using fresh or dried noodles.

Put all three of these dishes together and you have a nice spread for your New Year’s Eve table. So before you finish up the year, how about joining me and millions of others in a big slurp of soba? Then pop open the Champagne and revel in the new year.

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Dashi

1

Using scissors, make several crosswise slits in the konbu (this helps to extract the flavor during cooking). In a medium saucepan, combine the konbu and water and set aside for 15 minutes. Place the pan over medium heat until the water almost comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

2

Cool the mixture for a couple of minutes, then gently add the bonito flakes (do not stir them into the mixture). After 5 minutes (the bonito flakes will have settled to the bottom of the pan), strain the dashi through a very fine mesh sieve, or a sieve lined with cheesecloth. This makes about 3 cups dashi, more than is needed for the remainder of the recipe. The dashi will keep, covered and refrigerated, for 3 to 4 days. Do not stir the dashi as this will cloud it; it should have a light golden color.

Tamago

1

In a large bowl, gently mix together the eggs, sugar, soy sauce and dashi. Do not whisk the ingredients too vigorously. Gently pour the mixture in a large measuring cup.

2

Heat a 10-inch nonstick pan or a tamago pan over medium-high heat. Add about a tablespoon of vegetable oil, spreading the oil evenly. Wipe away any excess oil with a paper towel, leaving just a thin film on the bottom of the pan.

3

Test the pan with a little egg. It should sizzle. Try to keep the pan at this temperature while cooking the eggs. Pour one-sixth (about one-fourth cup) of the egg mixture into the pan and distribute it quickly and evenly around the entire pan, tilting the pan back and forth. When the tamago starts to bubble, use the tip of a chopstick, knife or skewer to break any air bubbles. When the tamago is set on top and nearly cooked through, use chopsticks or a spatula to quickly roll the tamago toward you in thirds, as if folding a letter. (The first roll is the hardest. The egg might tear, but it will be covered by other layers of the egg mixture.) Keep the first roll off to one side of the pan as you proceed.

4

Baste the pan with more oil, using a paper towel to remove any excess oil. Pour another one-sixth of the egg mixture into the pan for the second roll, lifting the first roll and spreading the egg mixture under it. When the tamago is nearly cooked, roll the omelet over the first roll, again as if folding a letter into thirds.

5

Remove any loose egg particles from the pan with the paper towel. Add more egg mixture and repeat, rolling into thirds until you have used up all the egg. Brown the surface of the completed tamago.

6

Wrap the tamago loosely in a bamboo sushi mat to give the tamago some shape. The tamago has a lot of dashi inside so don’t squeeze it. Let the tamago rest for a couple of minutes wrapped in the mat.

7

Remove the tamago from the mat and slice it crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Serve with grated daikon radish and soy sauce. Tamago is best served hot, though it can also be enjoyed at room temperature.

Konbu (dried seaweed), dried bonito flakes and light soy sauce can be found at Japanese markets. Tamago frying pans are available at Japanese markets, but you can use a round 10-inch nonstick frying pan. This recipe calls for a bamboo sushi mat, available at Japanese stores.