May 6, 2017

Ni-Hachi Soba/二八そば

Ni-hachi (lit. two-eight) soba is buckwheat noodles made with 20% wheat flour and 80% buckwheat flour. Well, as a matter of fact, the juwari soba that I made the other day was not as tasty as we had expected, and my father suggested that I make ni-hachi soba the next time.
二八そばは、小麦粉2割、そば粉8割で作ったそばのことです。実のところ、先日私が作った十割そばは予想より美味しくなく、父に、今度は二八そばを作ったらどうかと言われました。

My father handed me this bag of domestically produced tsunagi (binding) wheat flour. This bag, which contains 300 g flour, is 180 yen according to the manufacturer's website.
父からこの国産つなぎ小麦粉を渡されました。メーカーのサイトによると、小麦粉が300 g入ったこの袋で180円です。

The buckwheat flour was also quite expensive. This bag of 400 g buckwheat flour, produced in Hokkaido, is 700 yen.
そば粉もかなり高価です。北海道産のこのそば粉400 gは700円です。

First, put a pot of large mount of water on the stove.
まずは、水をいっぱい入れた鍋をコンロにかけます。

In a mixing bowl, mix 400 g buckwheat flour and 100 g wheat flour.
ボールでそば粉を400 g、小麦粉を100 g混ぜます。
Transfer to the noodle maker.
ヌードルメーカーに移します。
Set the kneading time to 8 minutes. Press the Start button.
もみ時間を8分にセットします。開始ボタンを押します。
Pour 180 ml water little by little.
水を180 ml少しずつ注ぎます。
Extrusion automatically starts ten seconds after the kneading process is completed.
こねが終わると10秒後に自動的に押し出しが始まります。
IMPORTANT: DON'T TOUCH THE NOODLES. NO DUSTING IS REQUIRED.
This applies to other types of noodles, such as udon and ramen.
重要: 麺を触らないこと。打ち粉は不要です。
うどんやラーメンなど他のタイプの麺でも同様です。

Boil the noodles for 6 minutes or so.
6分程度茹でます。
IMPORTANT: STIR VERY GENTLY WITH A PAIR OF CHOPSTICKS TO PREVENT THE NOODLES FROM STICKING.
重要:麺がくっつかないよう、箸でとても優しくかき混ぜます。

I transferred some of the water from the pot to another pot to drink as "soba yu" after eating the soba.
鍋のお湯を少し、別の鍋にあけ、そばを食べた後に、そば湯として飲みました。
Just mix the water with some men-tsuyu (dipping sauce for noodles) and drink it.
お湯を麺つゆと混ぜて飲みます。
Well,... not bad, but dried soba would be as tasty.
悪くはないですが、乾麺でも同じくらい美味しいです。

My father and I have decided not to make any more soba until my father harvests buckwheat in the summer. We are going to use the noodle maker mainly to make udon from now on.
父と私は、父が夏にそばを収穫するまでは、そばは作らないことにしました。これからは主にうどんを作るのにヌードルメーカーを使うつもりです。

Cleaning the noodle maker is rather cumbersome, but I manage to clean it within 3 to 5 minutes.
ヌードルメーカーをきれいにするのはちょっと面倒ですが、3~5分以内でどうにかできます。
For easy removal of the dough residues, put the shaping disk in the freezer for two hours according to the instruction manual.
取説に従い、生地の残りを取りやすくするため、製麺用キャップは2時間冷凍庫に入れます。


You can keep the residues in the fridge or freezer for later use. I simply put them in miso soup.
残りは冷蔵庫や冷凍庫に入れて、後で使えます。私は単に味噌汁に入れます。

2 comments:

Fräulein Trude said...

I once had an electric noodle maker too. Sold it on eBay because I really hated the cleaning. I still use my italian noodle maker with the handle.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: I hate the cleaning, too, but I will keep using the noodle maker for my noodle-loving father. Long time ago, my father had a manual noodle maker with a handle, given to him by his father, but my father gave him back because it was cumbersome to use.