Teriyaki Chicken Udon Noodle Soup

To prep, soak your bamboo skewers in some cool water. While they’re soaking, let’s make the teriyaki sauce. Heat the sake, mirin, soy sauce and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, then simmer on low for 3-4 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Set aside until ready to cook.

Thread chicken pieces onto your soaked bamboo skewers. Transfer to a tray, then sprinkle with sea salt.

Make up the dashi according to packet instructions (you want 8 cups in total – I find one sachet is usually enough for 4 cups of broth, so I used 2 sachets for this recipe). Place the dashi broth, soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a pot over high heat and bring to a simmer. Taste your broth and add salt to taste, if required. Then turn off the heat but cover and keep warm.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush the pan with a little oil. Cook chicken skewers for 2–3 minutes on each side until almost cooked, turning every 30 seconds or so and brushing each time with a generous amount of teriyaki sauce. Keep turning and basting the chicken until the sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through. Transfer skewers to a plate.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the udon noodles and cook for around 3 minutes or until just separated. Use tongs to remove the noodles from the water. Drain and divide among serving bowls.

Using a spider strainer, lightly blanch small handfuls of baby spinach in the noodle-cooking water for a few seconds until just wilted. Transfer to a serving bowl and repeat for each bowl. Ladle the warm dashi broth (reheat it if necessary) over the noodles and spinach. Rest 2 of the teriyaki skewers over each bowl. Sprinkle with spring onion and sesame seeds, then serve.

– If you’re using a dashi sachet that contains MSG, you’ll probably find you don’t need this additional salt adding. However, I chose a variety of dashi that contained no MSG, hence my generous amount of seasoning.