We Went to Japan to Get a Real-Deal, Weeknight Udon Soup Recipe

When I travel, I like to eat out. Like a lot. I'm not the kind of person to buy snacks for my hotel room or pick up ingredients at a local market to cook in my rented apartment's kitchen. Instead I plan for two morning stops (usually a hip coffee shop with pastry before a spot that serves a local breakfast specialty), then lunch, afternoon snacks, and dinner, followed by drinks and more snacks. Repeat for as many days as possible. I want to try it ALL.

The Secret Ingredient Japanese Cooks Use for Super-Fast Dinners

But on myrecent trip to Japan, I had a totally different kind of food experience. Sure, I visited thehigh-end sushi bars; boughtstreet food treats; and drankplenty of sake. But, thanks to a program calledNagomi Visit—which pairs travelers with local home cooks for an authentic Japanese cooking experience—I also got a peek inside a real Japanese home, and a taste of what Japanese weeknight shopping and cooking is really like.

Although home cooking excursions aren't new, they aren't necessarily mainstream yet either. Kind of like homestay programsAirbnborVRBO(选项通常吸引那些寻找an experience off the beaten path), programs like Japan's Nagomi Visit or San Francisco'sEatWithopen the doors into locals' homes and give you the opportunity to cook or dine alongside them. And just like a hotel chain can't compare to a real Roman apartment, no amount of cooking classes or market tours can compare with this IRL experience.

I stumbled onto Nagomi Visit after I had already arrived in Tokyo, and because of my late request, Nagomi Visit's co-founder and COO Alisa Sanada actually invited me into her own home to cook with her mother-in-law, Keiko Ohtao. We met in the lobby of Alisa's high-rise apartment building in the Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Tokyo. But before heading up to cook, Alisa and Keiko took me shopping at their nearbyIto Yokadogrocery store. Although I was expecting a massive Japanese market likeNew Jersey's Mitsuwa, the shiny new shop looked surprisingly like a mini–Whole Foods, except packed with all Japanese ingredients, of course.

The grocery story was like a Japanese foodie wonderland—aisles full of noodles, miso paste, fermented fish products, tofu, and other Japanese ingredients as far as the eye could see. Although I wanted to stop and look at every item individually, Keiko was on a mission. She had already decided on her recipe—Nabeyaki Udon—and she zipped through the store, grabbing dried anchovies, chicken, mushrooms, scallions, udon. I could hardly keep up with the spritely grandmother, who buzzed around me and her daughter-in-law as she picked up everything, sans list, for a recipe she'd been making for decades.

Back at Alisa's apartment, which Keiko regularly visits to enjoy weeknight dinners with the family, I was surprised how quickly the dish came together, even though it called for ahomemade dashi (aka Japanese broth). First, Keiko—who started cooking for her family when she was a teenager—made the dashi, soaking the dried anchovies in water. As she cooked, Keiko explained (by way of Alisa's translations) that the dish is one she would often make for her sons when they were growing up. The broth is the starting point for many Japanese dishes, she told me. "You increase the amount of soy sauce, mirin, and sweetness depending on what you are making, but it all starts the same," she says.

Next, Keiko quickly parboiled the Japanese greens (kind of like spinach). After removing the anchovies from the dashi, she fortified the broth with mirin and soy sauce, then cooked mushrooms, chicken, and fried tofu in that liquid, which infused it with even more flavor. After separately cooking the udon noodles, Keiko put the whole dish together in her donabe—a beautiful Japanese ceramic pot—adding a whisked egg at the last minute to quickly scramble in the pot.

And as for the pink fish cake, which she added into the pot with her Japanese greens and a handful of herbs: "That's just to add a bit of color to the dish. Traditionally there’s a red and white one and it’s just for good luck."

Fast forward a few months later to the Epi test kitchen, where I worked to recreate the dish. Keiko had used Japanese garlic scapes and Japanese cilantro when she made the soup, but because I couldn't find those in New York, I switched to the much more commonly available snow peas and scallions. Keiko used dried anchovies to make her dashi, and although the Epi test kitchen liked this version of the broth the best, we also made it with kombu, a dried seaweed that is also often used to make dashi, as a vegetarian alternative.

Another simple change: we tested the recipe using a Dutch oven, in case readers don't have a donabe, the traditional Japanese pot Keiko cooked her soup in. Other than that,the recipeis very similar to the one Keiko made for me, super easy and super delicious. I strongly recommend seeking out the fried tofu and fish cake, which add great flavor and texture to the finished soup and can be sourced at Asian markets.

I know the next trip I take will most certainly be packed to the brim with restaurant experiences, but if I can find a local host to cook along with, it will also include a home-cooking lesson. Restaurant food is great, and it's a fascinating way to experience a culture. But nothing beats a good, home-cooked meal.

Nabeyaki Udon Soup With Chicken, Spinach, and Mushrooms

Get This Recipe