Hiyamugi

Tokyo's summer always seems to take forever to come (the rainy season rudely butts in and delays things) but when it finally does come it comes on strong. There's no gentle segue from spring to summer like we get in in Toronto, where cool and rainy slowly turns to warm and then warm tenderly turns to hot, and without even realizing it summer has quietly arrived. Nope, here we get a few months where the weather swings wildly between cold, cool, warm and rainy--often in the same day--and then suddenly one day the temperature rises to 30, the humidity to 80, and bam! It's summer.

That happened sometime last week, and since then all I've wanted to eat are cold noodles (well, corn on the cob and fresh juicy plums too, but this post is not about them). Luckily Japan abounds in cold noodle dishes, with all the usual noodle types--including ramen--having their chilled summer versions. They're all good, but the quintessential cold summer noodle is soumen: a very thin white wheat noodle, almost always served in a large communal bowl with each diner getting a small cup of cold sauce to dip the noodles in, often with an array of garnishes.

Unfortunately I overindulged in soumen a few summers back which caused me to get a bit tired of it, so I've learned to rely on other types of noodles. Hiyamugi is nearly identical to soumen except that its a bit thicker: if soumen were capellini then hiyamugi would be spaghetti. This tiny variation makes a world of difference somehow, and although it is typically served in the exact way soumen is I don't seem to tire of hiyamugi as quickly. I think it may be that the extra thickness offers more texture, and makes the noodles less likely to turn into mush (even when I was in my soumen loving stage there was nothing I hated more than overcooked soumen noodles).

This is a typical hiyamugi setup: the communal bowl full of drained, chilled noodles (often with some ice cubes thrown in to keep things cool); little dishes of garnishes: thin slices of blanched okra, myouga (ginger bud) and shiso (perilla), and quaters of sudachi citrus; and small cups of tsuyu (a soy sauce-based dip, in this case bottled). These particular little somen cups come with a nifty indented lid, the perfect place for more garnishes: ground sesame seeds and a little dollop of yuzu koshou (yuzu citrus rind with green chili paste). There's also a bowl full of kyuuri no asazuke (quick-pickled cucumber) and a salad, added because this is a dinner* and it needed rounding out.

The garnishes are added to the tsuyu a little at a time, then the hiyamugi is taken from the bowl by the chopstickfull and dipped in the cup full of sauce and garnishes. The noodles themselves have little flavour but their slippery texture and cool temperature, combined with the flavours of the dip and garnishes, is refreshing and delicious.

*Soumen and other noodles are often served with no other side dishes. They are also thought of as lunch food and a typical household would never ever have noodles for dinner. Luckily my husband is a noodle lover who is happy to live in a non-typical household, but for some men being served noodles for dinner would be grounds for divorce.

Comments

[meemalee]

Hi Amy - that noodle dish looks so nice. I remember reading somewhere about a Japanese dish where the noodles are dipped into running stream water - am I imagining this?

Anyway, re your comments about the summer - my husband and I are visiting Tokyo at the end of August for two weeks and we'd like some advice about what clothes to pack - do we need coats/jackets or will a sweater be enough?

Thanks :-)

[Barbara Phillips-Conroy]

What a beautiful site - I was looking up photos on the web of wooly aphids - I found my first little creatures in the garden here in Oakville Ontario yesterday - and have been completely transfixed by your food, flower and insect images and tales in Japan! And, by the way I firmly believe, you can never photograph too many hydrangeas.

[katie]

meemalee - that's nagashi sōmen, a dining experience I would love to try someday.

[esther]

I love noodles of all sorts, so I'm going to try to find some soumen noodles, if not soba. Do you know if tsuyu can be made?

[Marie]

That hiyamugi looks so refreshing! I feel a cold soba hankering coming on.

[Rona]

Takes me back! One of my earliest and happiest Japan memories is of trying to catch somen noodles shooting down at bamboo slide, being laughed at by elementary school kids, on a sticky, humid day in rural Tokushima. Just wish the weather was warm enough in Scotland to generate the desire to eat some somen now. Pah to the weather gods. I WILL eat somen in the rain!

[Carlyn]

Amy:
Ahhhh...this looks wonderful...I have been in the mood for some cold noodles with the weather being so hot and humid in New England.....Yummmmm...

[justfoodnow]

The food on your site is heavenly - perfect for the South African weather and the cold noodles - well, I could have all of that just for me THIS MINUTE!! You have an exquisite site, your photographs are stunning and your food ideas quite unusual. You have awakened my interest in Japanese food - it's just so much more than sushi en the classics.

[margo]

Ahhh... cold summer noodles are the absolute best! I think every asian culture has something like.

I laughed at your comment about noodles for dinner being grounds for divorce. My father has a quirk - he won't eat rice for lunch AND dinner on the same day. So my mother (the typical asian housewife) would always call his secretary and ask "Noodles or rice?" - and she would tell my mother what type of starch my father had consumed that day.

Your food photos are so beautiful. Thank you so much for your lovely lovely blog.

[t.i]

This photo attracts my appetite.
OISHISOU!
Thanks. :-)

[myyearwithout]

your noodle and freshly cut food pictures made my mouth water. it looks so healthy! i have just been reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" about processed foods and how corn is in everything....so your pictures were entirely refreshing!
also, you have quite an extensive list of food blogs and thought you might want to add mine. it's about going without sugar for a year which i am in the midst of doing and half-way through! i have recently posted more sugar-free recipes, and plan on amplifying that section.
i look forward to perusing the many different blogs you have listed-they all look so interesting!

[Tess]

Ah, so delicious looking. It's hot here and I'd thought to try some somen, but usually end up with soggy noodles. Let's see if my dinner works out!
It will be days before I post about it: I cook, or blog. Not both, so I'm behind!
You do an amazing blog!

[Haken]

I noticed that you have lime on the table. What is that used for? Does it go with the somen like how one would put lime in Vietnamese Pho?

[Asp]

I've never had soumen noodles, but now I'm craving them. Well done!

Don't know what it is, but summer in Toronto has gone crazy. One day it's sweater-cool, the next it's 40C in the shade. This also happens to be the wettest summer ever.

[alice]

Hello Amy,
Recently, I commented on your fascinating photos of the fireworks posted on Aug. 8, 2007 but no reply from you. May I have your permission to use the photos and also the one on this hiyamugi for an article in a newspaper column about Japan. But I don't know if the photo files are big enough to send them to the newspaper. If you have bigger photos, please do send them to my email address. Thanks very much.

[Alice]

Hi Amy,
Since you didn't give your consent, I didn't use your photos.