Dad’s “Secret” Mentsuyu
The key to a quick and delicious bowl satisfying Udon Noodles!
This Japanese sauce concentrate can be whipped up in 5 minutes and stored in your fridge for up to 1 month.
When I was little, my dad worked in many Japanese restaurants, and eventually opened up his own. He worked hard. Like, really hard. As many immigrants do.
He would wake up, drop us off at school, then head to the restaurant. He did this 7 days a week until he couldn’t. But I remember, we would visit him at the restaurant after school, or sometimes we’d be awake when he came home afterwork, and he’d quickly whip up a bowl of udon noodles for us. He performed some kind of magic, because he’d do it so quickly!
Turns out that he adjusted the Mentsuyu sauce he used at the restaurant so that he could whip up a meal in lightning speed and still be part of meal time.
My family recently visited me in Melbourne, Australia for my wedding and no surprises, my dad whipped up 6 bowls of udon in, what seemed like, a snap of a finger. I followed him into the kitchen because I had to know the secret! How could he make such delicious Udon noodles so quickly? Luckily, I didn’t need to spy, and he shared his secret with me.
Mentsuyu
Mentsuyu is a concentrated noodle sauce base that consists mainly of sake, soy, mirin, katsuobushi and kombu.
It is a dark, viscous sauce that is full of umami! Mentsuyu can be adjusted and diluted to make broths for udon, cold soba noodles, tempura dipping sauce and even sukiyaki.
It can be considered a ‘mother’ sauce because it is one of the key, base sauces for many Japanese dishes.
Dad’s “Secret Sauce”
Mentsuyu doesn’t take long, but it was also not quick enough for a hustling immigrant family. Like many other aspects of my parent’s life, they had to adapt and grow and do whatever it took to make things work!
Instead of simmering katsuobushi and kombu to make a dashi broth, which also required squeezing and straining and filtering, my dad had no time for any of that! He replaced those two ingredients with Dashi Powder, found in all Asian grocers, to make the process even faster. What might have taken 15-20 minutes, now took 5 minutes. Dad’s “secret” sauce had only four ingredients.
To make it kid-friendly, he replaced the sake with water, but there’s nothing stopping you from substituting it right back in!
Dad's Secret Mentsuyu
Ingredients
Instructions
- Mix together all of the ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil.
- Once boiled, turn down to a low heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Pour into a large, clean jar and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.
- Dilute the mentsuyu concentrate 1:2 with water for a dipping sauce for tempura or zaru soba, and 1:4 for a soup broth for udon or soba noodle soup.
