Bukkake Udon

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3/4 cup homemade or instant dashi, chilled
• 2 servings store-bought udon noodles
• Assorted garnishes and toppings of your choice, such as bonito flakes, nori sheets, thinly sliced scallions, toasted sesame seeds, soft-cooked onsen eggs, grated fresh ginger, grated daikon radish, and pickled sliced ginger

Directions

1. Put the mirin, sugar, and soy sauce into a small saucepan and warm it over medium heat. Stir as it cooks, stopping once the sugar has melted in. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until cold. If you want to hurry it along, pour it into a stainless steel mixing bowl, then rest that bowl inside a slightly larger bowl of ice water.
2. Stir 1/4 cup of the soy-mirin base, the kaeshi, into the dashi. Give it a taste, then mix in more kaeshi if you want a stronger broth. Keep it cold.
3. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and cook the udon until barely tender, 2 to 3 minutes, unless the package gives you a different time. Move the noodles into an ice bath so they cool down, then drain them thoroughly.
4. Divide the noodles between 2 soup bowls. Add whatever garnishes and condiments you like, pour the dashi broth into each bowl, and serve.