Sansai soba

Sansai soba is a Japanese noodle dish prepared with soba buckwheat noodles and sansai – a mix of wild mountain vegetables which are often used in Buddhist cuisine – as the main ingredients. The broth is typically made with dashi stock that can be flavored with mirin and soy sauce.

The noodles are placed in the broth with sansai, and the dish can be enriched with other vegetables such as asparagus, spinach, or mushrooms, as well as fishcakes, eggs, and strips of dry seaweed. The vegetables should be crisp and not mushy when prepared correctly.

Sansai soba is especially popular in winter, and it belongs to traditional Buddhist cuisine—in Japan known as shōjin ryōri.