Song: You're The Best Thing
Group: The Style Council
Reimen is Japanese for Cold Noodles.
Although there are many types of cold noodles...
we have always called this particular style...Reimen.
It is known by several different names...
depending on the location where it is eaten.
This, along with Somen, is my favorite type of noodle dish.
This brand is excellent.
It comes with noodles, a sauce packet, and a mustard packet.
It can be made in a matter of minutes...
and although one of my favorite meat additions is shrimp...
steamed or rotisserie chicken is also excellent in it.
My mother and I had two packets each for supper...
with shrimp added, and with fire roasted shishito as a side dish...
and with some ice cold O'Doul's to wash everything down.
I defrosted the shrimp in a hot bath.
I then started baking some Yaki Imo for snacks for my mother on the morrow.
I then fire roasted some shishito as an accompanying dish...
and for a starter for my mother.
(I explain the fire roasting process for shishito in an earlier article).
The dipping sauce I use for the shishito is Ponzu.
It is used straight...
and the whole roasted pepper is dipped in it just before eating each one.
I then started boiling a gallon of water to cook the noodles.
You should always put far more water than necessary to submerge the noodles...
to cook the noodles.
Pasta partially dissolves in the water as it cooks.
Putting in plenty of water allows the starches to go into solution without gumming up
the noodles...and it allows the roiling boil to naturally stir the noodles.
I then had my mother peel the tails from the shrimp.
I then put them aside for inclusion with the finished noodles.
These are the ingredients of one package
(we used a total of four packets).
I then staged the mixing area.
Notice how much extra water was used.
We did not have to stir the noodles...
as the roiling boil did the mixing.
The noodles cooked in a few minutes...
and I then strained them.
I then had my mother give the noodles a cold water rinse...
to not only rinse away the excess starch...
but to cool the noodles.
I then bowled the noodles.
My mother then added the sauce and mustard packets.
The shrimp was then added.
Each bowl was then thoroughly mixed.
This meal is so delicious...
and the noodles are so satisfying.
Often times...
other ingredients are added to the mixture...
such as certain vegetables and cut up fried egg slices.
However...
I like to have just a simple meat and noodle mixture.
As you can see on my mother's plate...
she likes to line up the pepper stems and keep count of the shishito peppers she eats.
The fire roasted shishito really adds a unique and refreshing flavor to this meal...
and they are highly nutritious.
The only beer we drink is O'Doul's.
It is essentially Non-Alchoholic...
so we drink this beverage often.
Ice cold O'Doul's goes especially well with this dish.
At the conclusion of our meal...
my mother had fun counting how many peppers she had eaten.
She bragged that she had eaten 20 of them...
and then she ate one more to make it 21 :)
Reimen can be bought online...
or at almost any Asian market.
This is one of our favorite noodle dishes...
and it is a very quick and easy meal to make.
And, most of all...
it sates the deep craving of any cold noodle lover...
like nothing else...
other than somen.
Be sure to stock up on both of these Japanese favorite cold noodles...
somen...
and reimen.
A meal in minutes...
and it satisfies all day long.
We have somen when we want cold noodles, but this looks delicious, and seems simple to make as well.
ReplyDeleteHa, your mother is so cute with keeping track of the shishito peppers she ate. :)
I sometimes crave one type of cold noodle over the other, as each has its own particular flavor. I highly recommend trying this dish for all of whom have never tried it.
ReplyDeleteMy mother loves shishito, and she eats them until she is absolutely full. She has always liked to keep track of the stems of any peppers she eats. It is as if she likes to amaze herself with the totals. :)