Gomadashi udon / wheat noodles with fish sesame paste

Gomadashi udon is simply wheat noodles, fish sesame paste, a garnish and plenty of hot water. It is amazingly simple to prepare, as it was originally developed as a quick warm dish for fishermen coming back from the ocean. To satisfy our taste buds with a smaller amount of reduced-sodium version gomadashi, I use a small amount of dashi instead of hot water and add other goodies for overall umami enhancement and color to stimulate the appetite. This is one of Tom's recent favorites.

1 serving (with 150 g fresh low-sodium udon noodles):
575 calories; 22.6 g protein; 13.6 g fat; 87.9 g carbohydrate; 80.8 g net carbs; 460 mg sodium (with reduced-sodium gomadashi); 118 mg cholesterol; 7.1 g fiber 

1 serving (without udon noodles):
191 calories; 12.8 g protein; 11.0 g fat; 11.6 g carbohydrate; 7.3 g net carbs; 450 mg sodium (with reduced-sodium gomadashi); 115 mg cholesterol; 4.3 g fiber


<Ingredients>

2 servings of udon noodles

80 g (4 tbsp) gomadashi fish sesame paste
100 cc dashi
1 egg
1/3-1/2 carrot (38 g in photo)
    1 tsp oil (for cooking egg & carrot; not in photo)
Small handful seiyo meshida Western lady fern fiddleheads (55 g in photo)
2 green onions (17 g in photo)
5 grape tomatoes (64 g in photo)
1/2 sheet nori seaweed
Shichimi pepper (not in photo)

<Directions>
1.
Start boiling water to cook udon noodles.


2.

Lightly beat egg, grate in carrot, and mix well.

Heat oil, pour half of egg-carrot mixture, and cook both sides.

Transfer to cutting board, and repeat with remaining half.  

3.

Thinly slice egg-carrot sheets and green onion.
Cut meshida into 3-4 cm.
Halve or slice tomatoes.

4.

Meanwhile, cook udon.
(While cooking udon, take some hot water to warm serving bowls.) 

Chill cooked udon in water, rub surface, rinse until water runs clear, and keep in water.

5.

When ready to serve, drain udon, heat it though by pouring hot water, and serve in individual bowls.

6.
Heat up dashi (30+ seconds in microwave).


7.

Place goodies and gomadashi on top.
Pour hot dashi. 

Top with nori and shimichi as desired. 

Serve hot.

<Notes>

• The above nutrition figures with udon noodles are based on noodles containing 10 mg sodium maximum (udon made without salt).
• Sodium content of udon noodles varies significantly. As a rule of thumb, fresh or boiled/frozen udon noodles contain much less sodium (before and after cooking) compared to dried udon. When boiling dried udon noodles according to package instructions (10 times more water than noodle weight), sodium remaining in noodles after boiling can be as high as 600+ mg per serving. The number is reduced when using more water to boil noodles. 
• Nutrition figures of meshida are based on information for kogomi ostrich fern fiddleheads (no specific data is found for lady fern fiddleheads). 

(Last updated: May 20, 2017)