Soba Noodles: How to Cook Japanese Buckwheat Noodles

What makes soba noodles

In Japanese, the word soba means buckwheat. Despite the name, buckwheat is not a grain but a relative of knotweed. Its flour contains no gluten to hold the dough together. That is why most producers add wheat flour, so the noodles do not fall apart when cooked.

Soba have a gray-brown color, a slightly rough surface and a firm bite. The flavor is nutty, grainy and a little robust. The higher the buckwheat share, the stronger the noodles taste.

Buckwheat content: juwari, nihachi and supermarket soba

• Juwari soba are 100 percent buckwheat. They taste the most intense but break more easily.
• Nihachi soba follow the ratio of eight parts buckwheat to two parts wheat. Many soba restaurants in Japan work this way.
• Dried soba from stores often contain much less buckwheat. If wheat flour comes first on the ingredient list, wheat predominates.
• Cha soba also contain green tea powder and have a greenish color.

A warning about yakisoba: the stir-fried noodles are called soba, but they are made of wheat and are a kind of ramen noodle. So you do not need to cook our yakisoba recipe with buckwheat noodles.

How to cook soba noodles

1. Plenty of water. Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a boil. Soba release a lot of starch, and in too little water they stick.
2. Add the noodles loosely. Fan the soba into the water and stir once so they do not clump together.
3. Cook by the package. Dried soba usually need only a few minutes. Taste a noodle shortly before the time is up. It should be cooked but still have bite.
4. Watch the foam. If foam rises, lower the heat a little instead of putting on a lid.
5. Rinse cold. Drain the noodles and rinse them under cold water. Rub them with your hands until the water runs clear. That makes them smooth and keeps them from sticking.
6. Warm briefly for hot dishes. Dip the rinsed noodles in hot water for a moment, then add them to the broth.

In Japan the cooking water is called sobayu. In soba restaurants it arrives in a pot at the end, and you pour it into the rest of your dipping sauce to drink as a soup.

Serving cold or hot

Cold soba

The best-known form is zaru soba: cold noodles on a bamboo rack with a cold dipping sauce of dashi, soy sauce and mirin. You can make the sauce quickly from mentsuyu. Scallions, wasabi and strips of nori go with it, and often crisp ebi tempura on the side. The noodles also taste good as a soba noodle salad.

Hot soba

Kake soba are noodles in hot dashi broth with scallions. With sweet-simmered fried tofu they become kitsune soba. Outside Japanese tradition you can also stir-fry soba, as in the wok soba noodles. Fry them only briefly, or they break.

In Japan many families eat toshikoshi soba on New Year's Eve. The long noodles stand for the passage into the new year.

Allergens and gluten

Most soba contain wheat and therefore gluten. Only noodles made from pure buckwheat that are explicitly labeled gluten-free are safe, because many facilities also process wheat. Buckwheat itself can trigger allergies, and in Japan it is one of the major food allergens. If you cook for guests, tell them what is in it.

Substitutes, buying and storage

Without soba, reach for thin whole wheat spaghetti or udon. For cold dishes, thin somen also work, but they are made of wheat and taste milder. None of these noodles replaces the nutty buckwheat flavor.

You can find dried soba in the Asian aisle of many supermarkets and in health food stores. Asian grocery stores and online shops offer the larger selection, including juwari soba and cha soba. Fresh or frozen soba are rarer, usually at Asian grocery stores. Compare the ingredient list if a high buckwheat share matters to you.

Store dried soba dry and tightly closed, and they keep until the best-before date. Cooked soba taste best fresh. Leftovers keep in the fridge for one day, then they turn soft.