Soba are traditional Japanese buckwheat noodles that are served hot or cold. When served, the noodles are picked up with chopsticks, then slurped loudly, which is a part of common culture in Japan. They date back to the Edo period. One of the most common soba dishes is mori soba, in which cold noodles are consumed with tsuyu sauce.
The most popular soba dishes include kitsune soba, tanuki soba, tempura soba, and kake soba. There are also regional soba dishes such as ita soba (Yamagata Prefecture), matcha soba (Uji), nishin soba (Kyoto Prefecture), and wanko soba (Iwate Prefecture).
VARIATIONS OF Soba
MOST ICONIC Soba
Okinawa soba is a variety of Japanese noodle soup originating from the Okinawa prefecture. Although the name soba traditionally encompasses buckwheat noodles, buckwheat is rarely used in Okinawa, and the noodles incorporated in this authentic dish are primarily made with wheat flour.
They range from round and long varieties to the thicker and wider types. Pork, most commonly pork belly cooked in soy sauce is most often utilized in Okinawa soba, and the dish is usually topped with fish cakes, fish paste, sliced scallions, and pickled ginger.
MOST ICONIC Okinawa soba
Moist, chewy, and hearty, onigiri or omusubi are Japanese rice balls and a favorite picnic food since the 11th century, when they were known as tonjiki and recorded as such in the diary of Lady Murasaki, author of The Tale of Genji (which is believed to be the world's first novel!).
However, the origins of the dish are much earlier than the time of Lady Murasaki. In the Nara period, before chopsticks became popular, rice used to be rolled into small balls in order to be easily picked up and consumed. Typically, onigiri is wrapped in nori seaweed, but that practice did not come about until the late 16th century.
MOST ICONIC Onigiri
Chanpuru is a group of Japanese stir-fry dishes typically associated with Okinawa. The name of the dish roughly translates as something mixed, and the ingredients usually include tofu, various vegetables, meat, as well as fish or seafood, and particularly on Okinawa the popular American Spam (canned meat).
The most common version of chanpuru is made with bitter melon, and it goes under the name goya chanpuru, while other popular versions include noodle-based somen chanpuru and a variety made with a type of wheat gluten (fu).