Oroshi Nattou Soba

Oroshi nattou soba made by my dad! :3

Soba is a type of japanese noodle that is made of buckwheat flour. The noodle is brownish and you can eat it cold and hot! Soba is a dish typically munched during new years, to be able to live long and young. At home, we just eat them whenever we want (I know such rebels right?) and when my dad makes soba, this is how we usually eat them (see picture below)! My dad grates daikon radish (the white puree type thing), sprinkle some spring onion, some sea weed and wasabi. You add the soba tsuyu (the dipping sauce) and you munch away. It's so refreshing, it's perfect for summer days!

He had told me about putting nattou (fermented soya beans) on soba and I have been drooling over the idea for some time... I think many westerners don't like nattou since it has a very strong smell (rather ssshtinkyyyy for some :P) and it's all sticky and all. In any case, I love it so I was super keen to try. This recipe is pretty easy. The main problem would be the ingredients that can be rather difficult to find in Europe like nattou and daikon radish. The latter can easily be found in asian grocery store I think (at least in London and Netherlands). Nattou is trickier... I find it in London in a Japanese store called Atariya. Apparently, you can also make it yourself but haven't tried that yet :P Japanese grocery stores are scarce in Europe and are also expensive... Soba is also yummy without it so no worries :D Just adding spring onion, sea weed and wasabi already makes it delicious! For the soba tsuyu I managed to find it in Asian grocery store so should be manageable... 

Anyways, here are the directions for oroshi nattou soba! 

Ingredients (for 2 munchers):

• 400g Soba noodles 
• Soba tsuyu 
• 2 packs of nattou (one for each person)
• 1/3 of daikon radish
• couple of spring onions
• sea weed

Preparation:

1. Boil the water for the soba.
2. In the meantime, cut the spring onion (in small bits).
3. Grate the daikon, it will become like puree. Its very refreshing and a bit spicy? (you will need a little tool for that)
4. In a bowl, add the nattou and the little sauce. Mix it well until its all gooey and stickyyyy.  
5. Cook the soba (check the time on the packaging. Usually soba noodles cook very fast so be careful not to over cook!). When they are done, drain them and use cold water to cool them down.
6. Drain them well and place them into a bowl. Add some soba tsuyu, enough so half of it is immersed in it (some tsuyu needs to be diluted in water so read the etiquette beforehand!). Add the grated daikon raddish, the nattou, and finally sprinkle on the spring onion and sea weed! 

Dekiagari~ Enjoy! :)