Hon-kaeshi is a dark Japanese noodle sauce often served with chilled soba noodles or other savory dishes. Its ingredients are a ratio of dark soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. I have adapted the ratio for 1 serving, though, it can probably be multiplied for more. And, since I'm using this with a bowl of fresh soba noodles, this preparation is for serving it fresh. A traditional method would be to cook the ingredients together for storage in the refrigerator. You could probably use unbleached granulated sugar instead of brown sugar, but you should use a good quality soy sauce and mirin. I used Takara mirin, a cooking sake.
Ingredients
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp brown sugar
Directions
Combine ingredients and mix until sugar has dissolved. Serve as is in a separate bowl from soba noodles or mix with soba noodles, then serve.
Can also prepare with rehydrated wakame seaweed and serve over cooked soba noodles. I like wakame since it is cheaper and easier to find in the Pacific NW than bonito, and much easier to prepare than kombu seaweed.
Because this recipe calls for both sugar and soy sauce, it can also be used as a flavoring with grilled chicken (yakitori), thin slices of beef served over vegetables (sukiyaki), etc.
The traditional Kaeshi prep method is as follows:
4 1/4 c. (1 litre) good quality soy sauce
3/4 to 1 c. mirin
3/4 to 1 c. brown sugar
Directions:
1. In a pot, heat mirin until boiling, then simmer until much of the alcohol has evaporated.
2. Turn off heat and add sugar to pot, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
3. Add soy sauce and bring to a boil until liquid temp is 185 degrees F (85 degrees C).
4. Turn off heat and let cool until transferring liquid to a container.
