Chilled Kamatama Udon

Place the frozen udon on a heatproof plate and microwave for the specified time to thaw. You may boil your favorite udon instead, but frozen udon is recommended for fewer dishes and less effort.

Make the sauce while the udon heats. Put mentsuyu in a container. You can make it with mentsuyu alone, but it will just taste like mentsuyu, so blend in seasonings here for an authentic flavor.

Add hondashi (Japanese-style granulated dashi) to the mentsuyu. Hondashi dissolves in cold seasonings and cold water, making it ideal for this no-heat recipe. It brings out the aroma of freshly shaved bonito and a refined umami.

Add soy sauce for aroma and mirin for richness and mellowness, in that order. Store-bought mentsuyu has lost its soy sauce aroma, so a little soy sauce restores it.

Add the wasabi and mix well to complete the wasabi sauce. Use 5 cm if you want a strong kick, or 3 cm for a moderate aroma and heat. Chill it thoroughly in the refrigerator until the udon toppings are done.

Once the udon is thawed, put it into ice water that has been chilled thoroughly in advance and cool it well. There is no need to rinse it under running water. Add plenty of ice, since too little will melt from the heat of the udon and turn lukewarm.

Once the udon is thoroughly chilled, transfer it to a colander, discard the remaining ice, and drain it well.

Put the drained udon into a serving bowl and add only the egg white. Do not add any seasonings at this point.

Mix only the egg white and udon together thoroughly, as if whipping it. Mixing about 100 times whips the egg white into a meringue. Egg white alone takes about 5 minutes, but with the udon mixed in it foams up well in about 30 seconds.

Place the egg yolk in the center, then top with tenkasu, chopped green onion, katsuobushi, and mayonnaise in that order.

Finally, pour over the thoroughly chilled wasabi sauce and it is done. Adding more chopped green onion or ichimi togarashi to taste is also delicious. Mix everything well before eating.