I’ve been wanting to try this for a while. I checked a number of on-line recipes but basically tweaked this one from food.com (http://www.food.com/recipe/japanese-udon-noodle-soup-457845).
None of the recipes I saw called for fish sauce but the base recipe tasted like something was missing and the fish sauce made a BIG improvement. You can add a splash or two of this to individual bowls rather than the whole recipe if serving to people watching their sodium intake.
My recipe (with tweaks) is –
- 1 (12 ounce) package dried udon noodles
- 12 cups vegetable stock (low sodium canned or homemade)
- 1 tablespoon thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger (matchstick size)
- ½ cup thinly sliced carrot (matchstick size)
- ½ cup trimmed snow peas, sliced 1/2-inch on the diagonal
- ½ cup dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 cups bok choy (trim ends, slice 1″ diagonally)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- ½ cup diced scallion
- 1 tablespoon mirin (optional or sub w/ rice wine or vinegar)
- 1lb of uncooked peeled jumbo shrimp
Cook noodles according to package, rinse and set aside. Prep vegetables. Add stock, soy and fish sauce, and miso to pot and bring to boil. Add all other ingredients EXCEPT the shrimp. Bring back to a boil and add the shrimp. Cook till shrimp is done (about 5 mins) and serve immediately.
Recipe makes about 8-10 servings