Homemade Udon Noodles

Iron Chef Morimoto teaches us how to make authentic, homemade udon noodles from
scratch. The recipe and step-by-step photos is from Morimoto’s second cookbook “Mastering the art of Japanese Home Cooking.” The cookbook features Japanese 

Chef Morimoto says, “Dried udon noodles are fine, Store-bought pre-cooked udon work well. But there’s nothing like homemade udon and believe it or not, you can really make the irresistibly slick, chewy, spring noodles at home. Udon takes no great skill. Just water, flour, a rolling pin and a little patience. If kneading the dough, which activates the gluten in the flour and gives the noodles their texture, makes your arms tired, do what home cooks in Japan do: put the dough in a resealable plastic bag, wrap in a towel, and knead with your feet!”

To make homemade udon, knead the dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover dough with plastic and let it rest for about an hour. This will make the dough relax and easier to roll out. *Jaden’s note – I like resting the dough for over an hour (timing is flexible here…I’ve let my dough rest anywhere between 1-5 hours), it just makes it so much easier to roll out!

Use a big rolling pin (Chef Morimoto likes to use a heavy, straight, wooden rolling pin like this one.)

As you roll the dough, occasionally rotate the dough 90 degrees and dust lightly with flour.

Roll evenly.

Dough thickness should be slightly less than 1/4″.

If you find the dough resisting too much, cover with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 5-10 minutes.

When you get the dough to desired thickness, fold dough in thirds (like a letter fold) and slice into 1/8″ thick noodles.

Dust noodles with flour and separate. Cook immediately.

Jaden’s Tips for Udon

• I am so using making homemade pasta with the help of a machine to roll to desired thickness! The rolling pin method was a bit challenging – getting the noodles to even thickness took some patience.
• Try using your hand-crank pasta maker (this one is my favorite) or KitchenAid attachment to roll out to desired thickness, which is just under 1/4″ thick. Fold into thirds, then let it rest for a few minutes before slicing by hand.
• Hand-slicing the noodles gives a more homemade feel, I love the unevenness of hand-made noodles.
• I separated the dough into 4 balls, this made it easier to roll out, instead of dealing with a massive mound of dough!
• Fresh udon takes a little longer to cook than fresh Italian pasta. Let it cook 7-12 minutes in gentle simmer. Cooking time really depends on how thick your noodles are. Check at the 7 minute mark and adjust. The udon should be soft but not mushy.
• After cooking noodles immediately dunk them in a ice bath. This will help remove excess starch, stop cooking and bring more “bounce” to the noodles.
• If you are serving the noodles in a soup, cook the noodles separately from the broth. Meaning, don’t try to cook the udon noodles in the broth itself. Too much starch will be released in cooking process.
• The broth for udon noodles soup is simple. Start with the basic recipe, and add vegetables, seafood and meats as you please.

UDON BROTH RECIPE

3 cups dashi
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin

In saucepan, combine ingredients and bring to simmer. Serve with fresh udon noodles, garnish with sliced green onion.

http://steamykitchen.com/43189-homemade-udon-noodle-recipe-morimoto.html?

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