When the temperature starts rising and Summertime is coming closer, you see these kind of poster or flag at the entrance of restaurant in Japan.

 　　　　　　　　  

It says ‘We have started serving Chilled Ramen’. Oh yes, Chilled Ramen! We like Ramen very much and we eat it cold too. It is our Summer Tradition. Summer in Japan is very hot and humid. We cannot survive without eating Chilled Ramen!

<Chilled Salad Ramen>

[Ingredients] (for two)

• 2 portions of Noodle (fresh or dried)
• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Carrot
• Tomatoes (sliced)
• Sweet Corn
• 3 eggs
• Fresh Ginger (thinly shred like needle, for garnish)
• Spring Onion (finely chopped, for garnish)
• Toasted White Sesame seeds

(for Sauce)

• 80ml Soup stock (Chicken is preferable, Vegetable for vegetarian)
• 5Tbs Soy Sauce
• 3 Tbs Sugar
• 2 Tbs Toasted Sesame Oil
• 3 Tbs Rice Vinegar
• 1/2 Lemon juice
• 3 Tbs grated White Sesame seeds

 [Direction]

(Making the sauce) Start from making the Sauce. Mix all the ingredients in a jar. By adding all it should make over 200ml. Chill the sauce in a refrigerator way before eating but if you don’t have enough time, place the mixed sauce in a freezer for 15 minutes or so.

(‘Kinshi Tamago‘) ‘Kinshi’ means golden thread and ‘Tamago’ means Egg. So it is basically Shredded Egg like Golden Thread. Break 2 eggs and make some very thin plain omlet on a lightly oiled frying pan. Keep the sheets of cooked egg on a plate to cool down. Cut them into narrow strips. *In this photo I could not cut thinly enough but it should be narrower normally.

  

(Boiled Egg) Make a boiled egg if you want to have some on top as well as ‘Kinshi Tamago’ either hard or soft-boiled to your taste.

(Salad) Cut all the salad ingredients into thin easy-to-eat size slices.

(Noodle) Boil enough amount of water and cook noodle. Keep stirring so the noodle doesn’t stick each other and do not over cook it either. As soon as the noodle is cooked throw the hot water away and rinse noodle under running cold water. Drain the noodle in a colander.

(Serve Up) Shake the colander well to remove excessive water from the noodle and place it on a plate with some slight depth. Plate up all the salad ingredients and egg on top of the noodle. Pour the chilled sauce over the plate and garnish with thinly shredded fresh ginger and finely sliced spring onion.

That’s it! This is the dish we have every summer. It is the dish that makes us survive the heat.

[Tip]

1. Use Rice Vinegar. Wine Vinegar is too strong for this dish and I don’t think the flavour matches well.
2. You can buy toasted White Sesame Seeds either whole or grounded. If you have sesame seeds which are not toasted yet just place them in a heated frying pan without any oil. Toast them until the seeds become light brown and an aromatic smell rises.
3. For grinding sesame seeds Japanese people normally have a small gadget to do that job but you can use a mortar for a minute. By grinding just before use the aroma is much stronger and tastier. I used this tiny mortar I bought in Japan. This is from a ‘Hyakkin’ shop that is a Japanese version of a pond shop but so much better quality. Actually the price is about 60 pence since the exchanging rate at the moment.
4. If you prefer we often use some thinly cut ham for this dish and lots of people like to add some mayonnaise to go with it. I did not use mayonnaise just because I don’t like it much.