「佳代子さん風のツナとトマトのぶっかけそうめん」

Cold noodles is a refreshing and delicious summer meal! Would you like to try Tominaga family’s rendition of Hiyashi Sōmen?

Japanese sōmen (also known as 素麺 or そうめん) are very thin noodles made of wheat flour, commonly eaten cold during hot weather days. Hiyashi Sōmen (written 冷やしそうめん in Japanese – meaning ‘cold sōmen noodles’) feels a little bit lighter in the stomach than the famous cold dish hiyashi chūka because of the different type of noodles – making it a good choice for a light meal.

This recipe is super easy to make: besides assembling the ingredients on the dish, it is only necessary to boil water to cook the noodles. You can add or remove whatever ingredient available – for instance, we did not add cucumbers when doing this at home.

You might be thinking now – but who is Mrs Kayoko? Well, we were watching the drama adaptation of Fumi Yoshinaga’s What did you eat yesterday? (きのう何食べた?) on TV the other day and Kayoko Tominaga is the character that introduces her version of the dish to the series. Today’s post is inspired by her quick and fresh recipe!

1. 150g of sōmen noodles
2. 25g of canned tuna
3. 1tsp of mayonnaise
4. 25g of cucumber
5. Ripe cherry tomatoes (or half of a regular tomato)
6. 25g of shiso leaves
7. 25g of myōga
8. 1/2 cup of cold mentsuyu mix
9. Sesame seeds

1. First, cut the cucumber, the myoga and the shiso leaves into thin strips.
2. Dice the tomatoes in bite size pieces.
3. Next, mix the tuna with the mayonnaise.
4. Boil the portion of sōmen noodles, later rinse it in cold water when it finishes cooking and set it aside.
5. Assemble the dish by placing the sōmen at the bottom, followed by the tuna mayo mix, then finally covering the dish with the remaining ingredients.
6. Pour the mentsuyu over the mix then serve the noodles.

If you want to be creative and use different ingredients, I suggest adding fresh and juicy options.

In Kayoko-san’s recipe, she usually starts assembling the dish by pouring the mentsuyu after plating the noodles and the diced tomatoes, instead of leaving it as the last touch – I personally like leaving it as the last step to let all ingredients absorb some of its flavors and also to leave more time before the noodles get soaked.

I haven’t tried doing it yet, but in the official drama guide & recipe book, Kayoko-san suggests keeping the oil from the canned tuna to the mayonnaise mix instead of discarding it – you may try that and tell us the results!