For Those Tired of Mentsuyu: "Soy Milk Tantan-Style Dipping Somen" Made with Chicken Paitan and Soy Milk

According to Ryuji, he has made a variety of chilled somen recipes before, but never in the form of a dipping sauce. This time he's aiming for a richer style. In the video he makes enough dipping sauce for 3 to 4 servings at once, but he adds that you can make it for 1 to 2 servings by reducing the quantities.

First, miso goes into a bowl. Ryuji uses Shinshu white miso, a product called Yamabuki Miso. White miso is creamy, so he'd like you to use it if possible, but he says it turns out plenty tasty with inaka miso or regular miso too.

What gives it that tantan character is ground sesame: 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons. When a staff member asks, "You're not using sesame paste?", Ryuji replies, "Nobody has sesame paste at home, right?", prioritizing ingredients people actually have in their kitchens.

Next, he adds chicken paitan soup base. According to Ryuji, this is a chicken paitan soup that dissolves in water, and when he previously introduced a somen dish using it, it was extremely well received, so he decided to use it again. If you don't have it on hand, regular chicken stock will work as a substitute, but he cautions that the flavor will be lighter in that case, emphasizing that "it's definitely tastier with this chicken paitan."

Then comes the soy milk. The trick here is not to add it all at once. First add just a small amount and mix until the miso blends in, then add the rest. He explains that if you pour it all in at once, the miso won't dissolve easily. The soy milk totals about 400 ml, which is the guideline for 3 to 4 servings.

You can also make it with cow's milk, in which case it turns out lighter. But Ryuji himself prefers soy milk, so that's what he chose this time. Once mixed, the sauce has some body to it, which he explains is thanks to the chicken paitan soup.

When he tasted it, it was a little lacking, so he added more chicken paitan soup for a total of 4 teaspoons, and also put in 4 teaspoons of miso to make it even richer.

At this stage it isn't spicy. People who like real heat should add doubanjiang, but since this is meant for the whole family, he decided to keep the spice separate so everyone can adjust it themselves later.

He then adds about 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. He says it adds aroma, and the oil makes it even richer. After tasting, Ryuji said, "It's ridiculously good right now," but judged that a little sugar would add depth, so he added some sugar as well.

The secret ingredient is 1 teaspoon of Hondashi. He says adding seafood dashi creates a "double soup" with the chicken paitan. When a staff member asked whether iriko dashi would work, he replied that iriko is tasty too. Finally, he adds a pinch of salt to finish it and puts it in the fridge to chill.

While the dipping sauce was chilling, a 6-pack of chocolate banana whipped cream sandwiches that a staff member had bought turned up in the fridge, and they took a moment to taste them. They were apparently from 7-Eleven, priced at 213 yen. Ryuji praised the cream for being plant-based and light, and gave them an "S" rating. He admitted, however, that "if you have me review sweets, they all get an S." He also remarked that something sweet after drinking is really delicious.

Cucumber is used as a side. He says that julienning it and serving it alongside keeps you from getting bored while eating. For cucumber served with somen, lightly salt it, rub it, and squeeze out the liquid that comes out. This way it won't dilute the dipping sauce. The cucumber this time was large and watery, so he salt-rubbed one whole cucumber and then squeezed it thoroughly later.

He boils 4 bundles of somen. He says that if you remove all the tape holding the bundles first and drop them into the pot all at once, they'll cook evenly.

As for cooking time, instead of the usual 2 minutes, he pulls them out at 45 seconds. They're still firm at this point, but Ryuji says, "Now I'm going to work some magic," and soaks them in ice water for 1 minute. This brings the noodles back properly, giving you chewy "bari somen." Once out, squeeze the water out firmly.

While the noodles chill in ice water, he prepares canned tuna. One can or two is fine. You can use it oil and all, but since the dipping sauce already contains oil this time, he drained it. According to Ryuji, the tuna plays a role similar to the meat in tantanmen.

Don't throw away the drained tuna oil. Ryuji suggests it's great for peperoncino, and since it has fish umami, adding it to miso soup makes something like ara-jiru (fish scrap soup).

He piles on plenty of somen and adds the cucumber and tuna. The staff were surprised, saying they'd never seen somen paired with cucumber and tuna before, but Ryuji responded, "It's ridiculously good." He finished the dipping sauce with a drizzle of chili oil. Looking at the plating, he mentioned that with these quantities there'd be leftover dipping sauce, so you might increase the somen by about 1.5 times.

After dipping the somen in the sauce and eating, Ryuji remarked, "This is the flavor," and "It's really rich because of the chicken paitan." He recommends putting the tuna and cucumber into the dipping sauce together, which he says makes it taste more like tantan. He also said a sprinkle of pepper brings it even closer to tantan.

If you want it spicy, use doubanjiang. Ryuji himself "100% prefers it spicy," and demonstrated that adding about half a teaspoon for this amount of dipping sauce makes the red color come through. The staff tried the spicy version too and reacted with "Rich." Ryuji's verdict was that it's rich, but since it's somen, it doesn't feel heavy.

As he kept eating, Ryuji listed several advantages of this recipe. Somen is a simple dish that's hard to eat together with other ingredients, but with this recipe you get protein from the tuna and the texture of vegetables from the cucumber. The firm noodles from the 45-second boil also pair well. He says that, like tsukemen, it's better to make it nicely spicy to your liking.

He also stresses how easy it is: the dipping sauce is made just by mixing seasonings, and the cucumber only needs to be sliced and squeezed dry. He also mentioned that he'd been drinking and eating snacks before filming and didn't have much of an appetite, yet he kept going back for more of this somen.

The video closed with an invitation to give it a try, since the refreshing yet rich soy milk chicken paitan soup goes wonderfully with somen.