Miso Nikomi Udon

Ingredients

• 400 g dried udon noodles, ideally the hard Nagoya type
• 1.2 litres dashi
• 5 tbsp hatcho miso or dark red miso
• 1 tbsp white miso
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 300 g boneless chicken thigh, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 sheets abura-age fried tofu
• 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and halved
• 8 slices kamaboko fish cake
• 4 eggs
• 4 spring onions, cut into 3 cm lengths
• 1 tsp shichimi togarashi, to serve

Before you cook

• Cut the chicken thigh into bite-sized pieces.
• Pour boiling water over the abura-age in a sieve to wash off surface oil, then squeeze it and cut it into strips.
• Stem the shiitake and halve them.
• Cut the spring onions into 3 cm lengths.
• Whisk the hatcho miso and white miso with 200 ml of the cold dashi in a bowl until completely smooth, so it will not go lumpy in the pot.

Steps

1. Pour the remaining dashi into a large donabe clay pot or a heavy casserole and bring it to a simmer.
2. Add the mirin, sake and sugar and stir.
3. Slide in the chicken pieces and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises.
4. Add the shiitake and abura-age and simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Stir in the loosened miso mixture and bring the broth back to a bare simmer, keeping it below a boil so the miso keeps its aroma.
6. Add the dried udon straight into the broth without pre-boiling it.
7. Simmer the udon uncovered for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring gently now and then, until the noodles are tender at the edge but still firm in the middle.
8. Taste the broth and add a splash more dashi if it has thickened too much.
9. Lay the kamaboko and spring onions over the surface.
10. Crack the eggs onto the top of the noodles, spacing them apart.
11. Cover the pot and cook for 2 minutes, until the whites are just set and the yolks are still runny.
12. Carry the pot to the table on a heatproof mat and lift the lid there.
13. Serve with shichimi togarashi, warning everyone that the pot stays scalding hot for several minutes.