soba noodle soup

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/magazine/soba-noodle-soup.html?ref=magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/magazine/japanese-soba-the-broth-of-life.html?_r=1&ref=style

Salt

3 cups lightly packed shaved bonito flakes

3/4 cup soy sauce, preferably light (not low-sodium but usukuchi)

1/4 cup mirin

2 tablespoons sugar

1 sheet nori

4 eggs

About 1 pound soba noodles

1/2 cup chopped scallions. 

1. Heat the oven (or a toaster oven) to 300. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In another large pot, bring 10 cups of water to a boil; stir in the bonito flakes, turn off the heat and steep for 10 minutes, no more. Strain into a large bowl; discard the flakes.

2. Put the soy sauce, mirin, sugar and a pinch of salt in the pot you used to make the broth; bring to a boil. Let it boil for a minute, then add the bonito stock; bring it back to a boil, and transfer 6 cups to a separate pot and keep hot. (This will be the broth for the soup; what remains is for cooking the eggs.) Toast the nori in the oven until slightly crisp, about 5 minutes. Cut into quarters and set aside. Crack the eggs into a bowl or a large measuring cup with a spout and beat until frothy.

3. Cook the noodles in the boiling water until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes, then drain, quickly rinse under cold running water and drain again. Put a portion of noodles into each of four soup bowls. Using a circular pouring motion, slowly stream the eggs, 1/3 at a time, into the smaller amount of boiling broth; as the first third sets, add the second; as the second sets, add the third, then turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for a minute. In the meantime ladle the stock (the one without the eggs in it) over the noodles. Use a slotted spoon to scoop a portion of the egg into each bowl, garnish with the nori and scallions and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.