A warm bowl of Vegan Soba Noodle Soup is a vegan version of the traditional Japanese comfort food that's prepared authentically minus the use of bonito flakes and/or high fructose corn syrup and other additives. This kombu dashi based vegan soba noodle soup tastes very clean yet it has a bold sweet & savory taste that brings out the flavor of soba noodles.*The default recipe yields 3 servings of hot soba noodles.**The recipe requires Kombu Dashi prepared in advance (see the link in the ingredients and/or notes.)***The Total Time does NOT include the time to prepare kombu dashi.
Start boiling water in a large pot for cooking soba noodles.
In the meantime, prepare the vegan soba tsuyu broth. Place the prepared kombu dashi in a sauce pan. Cover it and cook at medium high heat until a gentle boil.
Once the kombu dashi is at a gentle boil, reduce the heat to medium. Add in soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Continue to cook for 1-2 minutes (uncovered) until the mirin’s alcohol is evaporated and the sugar is completely dissolved. Adjust the heat as necessary. Reduce the heat to medium low to keep it warm until the soba noodles are done.
Once the water is boiling, start cooking dried soba noodles for 4 minutes or according to the instructions on the package. Keep your eye on it as it tends to overflow. Once the soba noodles are cooked, use a colander to drain and rinse with running water to remove some starch and stop the cooking. Shake off the excess water.
Serve.Method 1: reheat the noodles in the soba tsuyu broth for a minute then transfer to a serving bowl.Method 2: pour boiling water (prepared separately) over the cooked soba noodles in the colander to reheat the noodles. Shake off the excess water then transfer to a serving bowl and pour the soba tsuyu broth over. Top with scallion and a dash of shichimi pepper for some heat (optional.)
If using my Simmered Kombu Dashi, start with 1100 ml water / 37 fl oz purified water and 11 g / 0.4 oz kombu which should make about 960-1000 ml/32-34 fl oz (4 to 4 1/4 cups) kombu dashi that you can use for this recipe.
The cold brew one is super easy to make but takes 8-10 hours (or overnight) soaking. On the other hand, the simmered one takes only about 1 hour (5 minutes prepping, 30 minutes soaking and 25 minutes cooking.)
Soy sauce
For the savory flavor and rich dark color with a touch of umami.
Use Japanese soy sauce for the authentic taste. I use Organic Soy Sauce from Gold Mine Natural Foods.
Mirin
Mirin is Japanese cooking wine which adds the natural sweetness and depth to the broth. Use high quality mirin with no high fructose corn syrup.