Slice in the two bundles of dried somen noodles and cook for 3 minutes. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar. Put the chicken broth, sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil together in a small saucepan. Scramble the eggs, let cool, and then thinly slice. Thinly slice the kamaboko (or can use char siu, ham, or Spam). First step is to prepare all the toppings.,Īnd that’s really all there is to it! I hope you give this somen salad a try.Put the chicken broth, sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil together in a small saucepan. I add a splash of sesame oil for a little extra sesame flavor. It’s one part soy sauce to two parts each rice vinegar, sugar, and oil. AND you can use it on other salads that have Asian flavors (think Chinese chicken salad and salads for bentos). My dressing recipe is also so easy, you can memorize it. Is it weird to say that the dressing may be my favorite part of the salad? I seriously LOVE this somen salad dressing. Really, as long as it tastes good cold, it’ll probably work. Here are some popular topping suggestions: Use whatever you like! The only thing to keep in mind is that the toppings do best when they are very thinly sliced, to match the thinness of the somen noodles. There are no strict rules when it comes to the somen salad toppings. Speaking of the toppings, here’s where you can have some fun. And while somen salad has not traditionally been a Japanese food, I am told that it’s starting to become popular in Japan as well.

Being part of the Japanese American community in California growing up, somen salad was a really popular dish at family gatherings and potlucks. But those toppings ARE very commonly found in other Hawaiian and Japanese American foods. Many of the toppings for somen salad are not strictly Japanese (e.g. So given that the main ingredient in somen salad is a Japanese noodle… why did I say that somen salad was Hawaiian? Well, most likely somen salad is another Hawaiian x Japanese fusion dish born from the Japanese immigration to Hawaii in the 1800s. In fact, if you’ve ever had a hiyashi chuka dish (a cold ramen dish in Japan), it’s almost exactly like somen salad! Somen Salad – Hawaiian or Japanese? Besides, in Asia, cold noodle dishes are very common. Now, I have also seen some people call somen salad a pasta salad, but that label also makes go, “Ehhhhhhh.” While I guess this is technically true, I associate pasta salads with the midwest. I’ve also seen somen compared to vermicelli, which I think is a much closer descriptor, as somen is almost white in color and has a very soft bite and mild flavor. Sure, they have a similar thinness, but somen tastes and looks much different. They’re super thin and made from wheat… some have likened them to Japanese angel hair pasta, but I feel like the comparison is just weird. Somen noodles are a type of Japanese noodle. Somen salad is made by dumping a bunch of somen noodles in a large bowl, topping it with a variety of thinly sliced meats and veggies, and then drenching it in a soy sauce dressing. The reason for this is because the main base of somen salad is somen noodles, not vegetables. Keep reading to see how it’s done! What is Somen Salad?Īlright, I’m going to start off this seemingly innocent recipe post with something controversial: to me, somen salad is a cold noodle dish. It’s perfect for hot summer days and bringing to potlucks! My favorite part of somen salad might be the easy soy sauce dressing, which I use on all my Asian-ish salads. Somen salad is a popular Hawaiian dish consisting of cold somen noodles topped with a variety of meats and veggies.

Hawaiian kine somen dressing