I have a ? about Japanese food.?

Question

I bought Shirikiku brand buckwheat noodles with concentrated soup base. Most of the directions are in Japanese or pictures.

Im curious abou the soup base. It is to be mixed with water-if you mix it with a 1/3 cup of water its called Zaru Soba Tsuyu and if you mix with almost a cup of water and a little soy sauce for flavor, its called Kake Soba Tsuyu.

I know Soba is the noodle...what is Tsuyu and what is the difference between Zaru and Kake?

Answer 1

tsuyu is the sauce...there are variety of these tsuyu,,mild or strong..
There are three serving ways of soba;
or Kake-soba consist of a bowl of the noodles only in hot broth, or together with various other ingredients such as vegetables, eggs, aburaage, (deep-fried tofu) or meat. The broth is made from soy sauce, mirin (sweet sake),sugar, and stock.
Mori-soba
or Mori-soba is the most popular form of cold soba. Only soba is served on a bamboo rack in a lacquer box, with a small bowl of broth and a small dish of chopped negi (spring onion) and wasabi (Japanese horseradish). The condiment should be mixed into the broth and the noodles dipped into the mixture before eating.
Zaru-soba
or Zaru-soba is exactly the same as mori-soba except that it is topped with thin strips of nori (dried seaweed), making it slightly more expensive and combining delicacies from mountains and seas.
Most foreigners like kake soba, with vegetable tempura toppings. more easy to prepare, just add hot water, base, noodles and toppings in a cup or bowl.

Answer 2

Tsuyu is the word for dipping sauce. Zaru soba is cold soba that you eat on a plate, typically made from little wood-like strips to keep the noodles from getting soggy. The tsuyu is in a tiny bowl and the noodles are dipped into the tsuyu one bite at a time.

Kake is short for "kakeru", which means to pour or put something onto something else. In this case, the soba has some other ingredients in with it grated yamaimo (long mountain potatoes), green onions, etc. The soba is on a plate and the tsuyu is poured over it.

Both dishes are of course best enjoyed on a hot summer day...

Answer 3

Soba noodles are eaten in many different ways, but there are two main ways. One is zaru (cooked, strained and cooled, served on a bamboo mat. You lift a few noodles with chopsticks and dip them into a small cup containing a fairly thin but flavorful sauce [Zaru Soba Tsuyu] and then eat them from the little cup. The second way is to eat soba noodles in broth [noodle soup]. If you add the cup of water to the sauce mix, you're making a broth for hot noodles in a bowl. Western cooks might cook noodles *in* the broth, but traditional Japanese cooks boil the noodles in unsalted water, drain them well, and then add them to hot broth.

Here's a link to a photo of what zaru soba usually looks like: http://www.kicho.de/image/nudeln/149zarusoba.jpg
There's usually the cup of sauce, and then a very small plate of grated daikon radish, wasabi (green Japanese herb a lot like horseradish), and chopped scallions, which you mix into the sauce before you start eating.

Answer 4

It is my understanding that "zaru" refers to the tray on which Zaru Soba Tsuyu is served and means that you get buckwheat noodles with dipping sauces.

Kake has many meanings in Japanese, but in this case I believe it refers to "many things", meaning Soba soup served with many items, usually batter-fried vegetables along with the noodles.

The difference between the amounts of water with which you mix the "dashi" powder (soup base of dried fish) makes the difference between noodles for dipping and soup with noodles.

Answer 5

Tsuyu means sauce...
Zaru means strain...as is drain the water off the soba noodles.
Kake means pour... as is pour the water off the noodles.

Answer 6

zaru soba is when you have your noodles cold. therefore you dip the noodles in sauce.

tsuyu is just the name of the sauce

Answer 7

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