Udon Noodle with Braised Beef and Ontama | Umami Insider

Ingredients:
- 2 portion Udon Noodle
- 1 Spring Onion, chopped
- 2 Egg
- Sprinkle of Shichimi Powder (optional)

Beef:
- ¼ lb Beef Shoulder
- 1 Onion
- 1 pinch Sea Salt
- 1 Tbsp Sun Flower Oil
- ½ cup Water
- 1 tbsp Dashi Powder
- 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 3 tsp Sake
- ½ tsp Sugar

Dashi Broth:
- 2 ½ cup Water
- 5 g Dried Kelp (Kombu)
- 30 g Dried Bonito Flakes

Noodle Soup:
- 1 cup Water
- 1 ½ cup Dashi Broth
- 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup Sake
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 2 pinch Sea Salt

Instructions:
Cook the beef
1. Thinly slice the beef.
2. Slice the onion.
3. Pour the oil in a frying pan and stir the beef and onion over high heat.
4. Add sugar, pinch of sea salt, soy sauce, water, dashi powder, and sake. Simmer until the onion turns tender and translucent.
5. Remove from heat and set it aside.

Make dashi broth.
1. Soak the kelp in water overnight in a fridge or for 2 hours in a room temperature.
2. Transfer the kelp and water into small pot. Bring the water to boil and when it’s about to boil (167F-176F), turn off the heat and remove the kelp from the water.
3. Add dried bonito flakes and simmer for 1 minute until all flakes sink to the bottom of the pot.
4. Line a large strainer with a paper towel place it in a larger bowl. Strain the broth to remove bonito flakes.
5. Gently squeeze the kitchen paper to release any remaining broth into the bowl.

Make dashi broth (alternative method).
1. If you are in a hurry, you can make the broth with dashi powder.
2. Combine 1 ½ cup of water and 2 tablespoon of dashi powder in a small pot.
3. Bring to boil.

Make noodle soup.
1. Pour 1 ½ cup of dashi broth into a small pot. If you’re using the alternative method, continue to step 2.
2. Add water, sugar, sea salt, soy sauce, and sake to the broth and bring it to boil.

Meanwhile make the soft boiled creamy egg.
1. Boil 1 quart water in a deep sauce pan (ideal to use thick iron sauce pan). Once the water boil, remove the pan from the heat and pour 1 cup of cold tap water. Immediately put the eggs in the water using a ladle.
2. Put the lid on and let it sit for 12 minutes in a room temperature.
3. Remove the eggs from the water and rest them 4 more minutes in a room temperature.
4. Place them in the fridge until ready to use.

Make the udon.
1. Boil the udon noodles according to the instruction on the package. Drain.
2. Put the cooked udon noodles in a serving bowl and pour the hot noodle soup. Add the beef on top, crack the egg and sprinkle spring onions.
3. Sprinkle Japanese seven chilli powder (shichimi) if you like.