Udon Noodles

I have been wanting to try making my own pasta for a long time now. This week is the 1 year anniversary of the Presto Pasta Nights roundups at Once Upon a Feast and I thought what better time to try? I do not have a pasta maker so I would have to make a pretty simple pasta and luckily I had come across one. Japanese udon noodles which are thick wheat based noodles, fit the bill perfectly. The udon noodles are nice and thick so you do not need a pasta maker to get them thin enough.

The ingredient list for udon noodles is pretty simple, just flour, water and a bit of salt. The recipe is pretty easy to follow though it required a bit of muscle and effort to knead and roll the dough. I used Harumi Kurihara's suggestion from Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking to step on the dough. It made making the dough a bit more fun and it was definitely easier to let my weight and gravity do the work of rolling the dough out for me. The dough came together pretty easily. It requires a few hours of resting so it might be best to do this on a weekend. The dough ended up being nice and smooth and chewy.

I decided to use the udon noodles in a soup with a really simple dashi and mentsuyu broth. The udon noodles took a while to cook as they were so thick but they turned out pretty good. The udon noodles had a really great chewy texture. I garnished the udon soup simply with green onions and togarashi. Togarashi is a chili powder condiment commonly used in Japan with a few extras like sesame seeds.

Overall I was pretty pleased with the home made udon noodles. I will be keeping an eye out for a good price on a pasta maker so that I can try making more kinds of pasta at home.

Ingredients:
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup water
2 1/2 cups flour

Directions:
1. Dissolve the salt into the water.
2. Mix the water into the flour in a large bowl.
3. Knead the dough for 10 minutes.
4. Place the dough into a freezer bag and step on it to flatten it with shoes off.
5. Remove the dough from the plastic bag and roll it out.
6. Fold the dough in half.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 a few times.
8. Let the dough rest for a few hours.
9. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/8 inch thick.
10. Fold the dough 2 or three times and slice into thin strips.
11. Cook the noodles in boiling water for about 10 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Kare Udon (Curry Udon Soup)
Kitsune Udon
Zucchini Ricotta Gnocchi