The custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve is said to have spread among ordinary people in the Edo period. Its meanings vary: the long, thin noodles stand for long life and a family fortune that stretches on, and because soba breaks easily, it cuts away the year's hardships and misfortunes. It is also said to have begun as one dish of the celebratory New Year's Eve dinner. This time I made nihachi soba, buckwheat mixed with wheat flour, in the kitchen of a Kyoto townhouse.
Ingredients
- Buckwheat flour
- Wheat flour (as a binder)
- Water
- Flour for dusting
- Soba dipping sauce (canned)
How I made it
- Combine the buckwheat and wheat flours and knead by hand, adding water bit by bit
- Gather the dough into a ball and press it flat with your palms
- Roll it out thin with a rolling pin
- Cut one sheet at a time so the noodles do not break at the folds
- Boil in plenty of water, rinse, and heap on a bamboo tray
- Dip in the sauce and eat
Sources: maff.go.jp maff.go.jp
This moment in the journey
One seiro of soba, coming up
I brought plenty of water to a boil and dropped in the noodles. Here you go! In the big pot, the soba swirled as it cooked.
Rinsed in water and heaped on a bamboo tray: one seiro of soba, coming right up. I poured dipping sauce from a can into a cup, dipped the fresh noodles and slurped.
The result was not bad at all. They had a good bite, and with all the affection I had for them, they were delicious. Yes, soba is best freshly made.
Watch this scene on YouTube7:39
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From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
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From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
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From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
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From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
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