Homemade Mentsuyu (Japanese Noodle Soup Base)
Lightly smoky and full of umami, Mentsuyu is a Japanese soup base used either hot or cold in a multitude of noodle dishes. You can easily make it at home with sake, mirin, soy sauce, and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). This Mentsuyu is concentrated.
Ingredients
- ½ cup sake
- 1⅛ cup mirin
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) ((5 g; 2 inches x 2 inches or 5 x 5 cm))
- 1 cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
Directions
- 1
Gather all the ingredients.
- 2
In a saucepan, add the sake, mirin, and soy sauce.
- 3
Add kombu and katsuobushi.
- 4
Slowly bring it to a boil over medium-low heat.
- 5
Then, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let it cool.
- 6
Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve (reserve the kombu and katsuobushi for another use—see below).
- 7
This Mentsuyu is concentrated. In general, the mentsuyu-to-water ratio should be 1:2 for a dipping sauce for Zaru Soba/Udon, and 1:4 for Udon/Soba Noodle Soup. Please adjust the taste of your dipping sauce or soup broth by adding more mentsuyu or water.
- 8
You can store the Mentsuyu in a mason jar in the refrigerator for up to a month.
- 9
Save the spent kombu and katsuobushi in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for up to a month.