Fight the cold days with this steamy Nabeyaki Udon served in donabe. Topped with chicken, tempura & heaps of vegetables in an umami dashi soup, this hot noodle soup would be your favorite kind of winter comfort food.

Nabeyaki Udon

INGREDIENTS

• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• ½ cup water
• 1 stalk spinach (rinsed)
• 1 inch carrot (3 cm)
• 1 package Kamaboko (fish cake) (but you will only need a few slices)
• ⅓ shimeji mushrooms (1 oz or 28 g; bottom 1/2" trimmed)
• 6 inch Negi (long green onion) (15 cm; use white part, or leeks + green onions/scallions)
• 1 chicken thigh
• 2 package Udon noodles (I like sanuki udon)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 stalks Mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (optional)
• 2 Shrimp Tempuras (see below for instructions)
• Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional)

For Udon Soup:

• 3 cups dashi (720 ml; I used Awase Dashi)
• ⅓ cup shiitake dashi (reserved from rehydrating dried shiitake, see instructions)
• 2 Tbsp mirin
• 1½ Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp salt (kosher or sea salt; use half if using table salt)

For Shrimp Tempura:

• 2 shrimp
• 25 g tempura batter mix (1 oz)
• 40 ml water (about 3 Tbsp; use cold water)
• Potato/corn starch (for dusting)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Gather all the ingredients.
2. Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in water to rehydrate for 15 minutes. You need just enough water to cover the mushrooms and place a smaller bowl on top to keep the mushrooms submerged in water.
3. Squeeze the excess water out of mushrooms. Cut off the stems if there are any and score a cross on top. Keep the leftover soaking liquid (dashi) for udon soup. Strain the dashi through a mesh strainer to remove any grit or impurities before using it.
4. In lightly salted boiling water, blanch the spinach starting from the stem side for 1 minute.
5. Soak the spinach in iced water to prevent overcooking. Squeeze water out and cut into 1 ½” (4 cm) pieces.
6. Slice the carrot. Optionally you can cut out the carrot into a flower shape with a vegetable cutter.
7. Cut kamaboko into thin slices and break shimeji mushrooms into small pieces.
8. Slice the long green onion diagonally and cut the chicken into 1” (2.5 cm) pieces.
9. To make udon soup, combine dashi soup and dashi from dried shiitake mushrooms in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
10. Once boiling, add mirin, soy sauce, and salt. When boiling again, turn off the heat and set aside.
11. To make shrimp tempura, follow this instruction to clean the shrimp and make them straight.
12. To make shrimp tempura, click here for the complete instructions, from how to make tempura batter and to deep fry. For today’s recipe, I used a tempura batter mix. Simply combine tempura batter mix and cold water.
13. Cook udon in boiling water. Once the noodles are separated, take them out and soak in ice water to prevent them from cooking further. Drain and set aside.
14. Divide ingredients (except for the egg, spinach, and mitsuba) into two individual earthen donabe clay pots (or use any big pot).
15. Add udon soup and cover with the lid. Bring the soup to a boil over medium-high heat. When it comes to a boil, leave the lid slightly open to let some steam out, or it will overflow. Lower the heat and simmer to cook until the chicken is cooked through.
16. Add an egg, spinach, and mitsuba and cover to cook until the egg is done to your liking.
17. Add shrimp tempura on top and serve. Sprinkle shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) if you like the soup spicy.

RECIPE NOTES

Prep/Cook time: This may vary depends on the ingredients you use and whether you use precooked shrimp tempura or make from scratch.

https://www.justonecookbook.com/nabeyaki-udon/