Tanuki Soba (たぬき蕎麦) is hot Soba noodles in soup with Tenkasu fried Tempura batter bits. It is a Soba dish with a pretty simple topping, but that addition gives the dish richer flavor.
“Tanuki” literally means raccoon dog which is an animal found in Japan and a popular character in stories and culture there. One theory is that Tanuki Soba was named as a counterpart for another noodle dish – Kitsune noodle dishes. “Kitsune” means fox, but we don’t quite know why somebody wanted to give symmetrical animal names to noodle dishes. Another idea is that “tanuki (tane-nuki)” sounds kind of like “ingredients removed” in Japanese. Since Tenkasu doesn’t have any vegetables or shrimp like regular Tempura but is only crumbs, the dish may have been named this way.
Interestingly, in Kansai (western Japan, such as Osaka) Tanuki Soba uses the topping of Kitsune noodles, seasoned Usuage fried tofu. Therefore there are no Kitsune Soba in Kansai. In Kyoto, Tanuki Soba also uses Usuage topping, but it’s cut into strips instead of a square sheet and also the soup is thickened. It is quite convoluted how to call what’s Tanuki and what’s Kitsune for noodles depending on where you are. So are there no noodles with Tenkasu fried bits in Kansai? There are. They are called a totally different name, Haikara noodles. Haikara means ‘fancy,’ and Osaka people made fun of Tokyo people eating Tanuki noodles without any seafood or vegetables but only fried Tempura batter.
In any case, this easy Tanuki Soba is super delicious. We made homemade Tenkasu fried bits ourselves, but it can easily be bought at Japanese supermarkets. Try this nice and warm yummy noodles tonight!
Tanuki Soba Recipe
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Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 3 Tbsp water
- deep-frying oil
- 4 cup Dashi
- 1/4-1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 3 Tbsp Mirin
- 2 Tbsp Sake
- 2 bunches or 200g dried Soba noodles
- 1-2 green onions thinly cut
- Shichimi Togarashi hot pepper powder
Instructions
- Make Tenkasu. Mix flour and water in a bowl. Drop the batter with a brush or several chopsticks in deep-frying oil at medium high heat (350F or 175C). Scoop out fried batter when it starts floating on the surface and browning. Set on a paper towel.
- Heat Dashi to a boil, and add salt, Soy Sauce, Mirin, Sake. Cover and keep it warm.
- Cook dried Soba noodles according to the package. Add cooked Soba to the hot soup and let it simmer for a minute.
- Divide noodles and soup into bowls, top with cooked fried Tenkasu and chopped green onion. Add Shichimi if you like.
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