Instructions: Fill a 3-quart pan two-thirds full with water and bring to a boil (about 8 cups water). In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil for sauce preparation. Place whole soba noodles into first pot of boiling water and allow to boil for about 4 minutes. Swish them around, but do not stir. Test one - you want it to be a little chewy but not too floury-tasting or too soft. Remove from boiling water, place in a bowl of ice water immediately and swish noodles around.

Put bonito flakes into the small saucepan of boiling water and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Strain, reserving liquid in a bowl. To the strained liquid, add soy sauce, sugar and mirin. Cover bowl of sauce and place in freezer to cool unless you will be serving the soba hot (See Notes).

When sauce is cold, taste and add more soy sauce if desired. Then divide among 4 bowls (a little larger than Japanese rice bowls, but rice bowls will work).

Drain soba noodles and divide among bowls of sauce. Top each with daikon and green onion. Enjoy with chopsticks, and dont forget to slurp.

Notes: Bottled Soba Tsuyu sauce (available at Japanese groceries) also can be used, as can Kikkoman Memmi sauce (available at stores such as Safeway and through www.Webvan.com). You can also bring the soba to the table in individual mounds on a bamboo platter or mat (a sushi-making mat on top of a serving platter works well), along with the sauce in bowls for each person to put noodles into. And dont forget to provide chopsticks.

Oroshi soba is best served cold, but it also can be served hot. To serve soba hot, rinse soba noodles in ice water after boiling them. Then dip them in a pan of boiling water to heat through. Add them to warm katsuodashi sauce and top with cold daikon and green onion.

Other variations:
For Sansai soba (mountain vegetables), buy a bag of Sansai, found in the refrigerated section of Japanese groceries. They contain fern and bamboo shoots, among other vegetables. Boil the vegetables until tender. Then serve atop soba, either hot or cold.

Or try sprinkling pieces of the marinated, roasted seaweed called nori on top of the soba.

Tsukemono, Japanese pickles, often are served as side dishes.

To drink with soba, try Japanese beers such as Sapporo or Asahi Dry, or be very traditional and drink sake.

Tempura soba
Serves 4

4-8 cups canola oil
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour, divided use 1 egg yolk
1 cup ice water
2 cups Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

1 zucchini, cut into 8 slices
1 onion, cut into 8 slices
8 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

Prepare oroshi soba as directed in accompanying recipe.

Heat oil to 350 degrees on medium to medium-high heat in a deep pot. Once at 350 degrees, lower heat to maintain this temperature. Mix 1 cup flour, egg yolk and ice water until just combined; batter should remain lumpy. One by one, dip vegetable slices and shrimp first into the remaining 1 cup flour. Next, dredge in batter and roll in panko bread crumbs. Lower gently into hot oil with a metal utensil or tongs. (If the oil is hot enough, you should hear crackling and popping sounds.) As soon as each piece turns a light golden brown, remove from oil and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Serve atop soba noodles or as an accompaniment.

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