Udon With Miso Soup

We love noodles. It’s our “fast food” dinner when I don’t have time to marinate and cook anything that requires more than 30 minutes in the kitchen. The toppings for the udon is determined by whatever I have in my fridge and pantry, which usually includes: chicken, shrimp, dried shitake mushrooms, canned sweet corn and eggs. For the miso paste, I’ve been using white miso which I got from the Japanese supermarket. The soup base should work with other types of miso.

Udon In Miso Soup With Chicken, Shrimps and Sweet Corn (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 12 – 14 pcs Shrimps – peeled and deveined
• 1 Chicken Breast – sliced
• 1 can of Sweet Corn
• 2 cans of Chicken Broth
• 1 tsp of Dashi Powder
• 2 tbsp of Miso Paste
• 2 bundles of dried Udon Noodles
• Green Onions – chopped (optional)
• Water for cooking noodles and the other ingredients

Tools/Equipment: 

• 2 Sauce Pans
• Slotted Spoon

How To:

1. Prepare water in both sauce pan. One will be used to cook the toppings and the other will be used to cook the noodles.
2. Boil the water in the first sauce pan. When the water comes to boil, salt the water and cook the shrimps and chicken breast. Remove cooked shrimps and chicken with a slotted spoon onto a plate.
3. Boil the water in the second sauce pan and cook udon noodles according to packaged instructions.
4. While waiting for the water for the noodles to boil, wash the first sauce pan and use it to heat up the chicken broth. Once it comes to boil, add the dashi powder and miso paste. Mix well until the miso paste has dissolved completely.
5. Once the noodles are cooked, divided it into two bowls. Place the cooked shrimps and chicken on top of the noodles and add in the corn. Finish off by ladling the miso soup into the bowls. Sprinkle green onions on top if using.

Cooking Tips:

• You can use one sauce pan to cook the whole meal. Just use the same pot to cook the ingredients first, then the noodles, then the soup.
• Salting the water help adds flavors to the ingredients.
• If you are making boiled eggs, you can cook the boil egg first then use the same water to cook the shrimps and chicken.
• The chicken broth, dashi and miso paste all have salt in them so be sure to taste the soup when you are making it to ensure that it’s not too salty. Try to use the less sodium variety for the chicken broth.