Cooking Japanese in Jamaica: Reimen

Ai Irisawa-Coney, Contributor

It is extremely hot these days. Although it is a great change from grey and cold Belgium for my sister who is visiting, it is way too hot for her five-month-old son. To combat the heat recently, we cooked some cold noodles.

It's called reimen. 'Rei' means cold and 'men' means noodle. Its cold noodle with loads of toppings and refreshing sweet-and-sour sesame-flavoured dressing. The good thing about this recipe is that, not only does it keeps you cool, but it is also like a salad, and you can get all the vitamins and proteins you need to survive the hot Jamaican summer.

This noodle is very popular in Japan because it is easy to cook and very appetising. My mother used to cook it using 'chuka soba', which means Chinese-style noodle, but we use spaghetti or vermicelli (rice noodle) here in Jamaica as they are easily available.

Although you can prepare all ingredients beforehand, the key for this recipe is assembling all ingredients just before it's consumed.

Ingredients

200gm dry spaghetti or 100gm dry vermicelli (rice noodle)

For dressing

200ml water

4tbs rice vinegar or apple cider

3tbs brown sugar

4tbs good quality Japanese soy sauce

1tbs dashi powder if you can get hold of it

1tbs good-quality sesame oil

Pinch of salt and pepper

For toppings

2 eggs

2tbs of dry seaweed

50gm bean sprouts

Half of a cucumber

3 slices of chicken or pork ham

2 sticks of imitation crab meat

1 salad tomato

1tbs of roasted sesame seed (whole or ground)

Pinch of salt and pepper

1tbs vegetable oil

Preparation

This dressing can be preserved for at least a week in the fridge. So, if you like, make a lot of it well in advance and then use it as a salad dressing, steak sauce, etc.

Combine all the ingredients for dressing in a saucepan and let it boil for 10 seconds. Then let it chill. Note: It's important that the dressing is cold when consumed.

Meanwhile, cook 'kinshi tamago', which is a very thin Japanese omelette. Two eggs can make more than one sheet of kinshi tamago, depending on the size of the frying pan you are using. Whisk eggs well with pinch of salt and pepper. Make sure the pan and oil are sizzling hot before pouring the eggs. You just need a small amount of whisked eggs for each slice, which is enough to cover the surface of a frying pan. It will cook in seconds. Use a spatula or fork to flip it like a pancake so that the other side gets cooked as well.

Seaweed will have to be soaked in lukewarm water for five to 10 minutes (read instruction on the package as soaking time depends on the seaweed). Once they are ready, squeeze all excess water and put it aside until assembling time.

Boil bean sprouts for a few minutes. After taking them out of hot water, put them in ice-cold water for another few minutes so they get crisp, then take them out of the water and dry with kitchen paper.

Thinly slice kinshi tamago (omelette), ham, cucumber and imitation crab. Cut tomato into bite sizes.

Cook spaghetti by following instruction on the package. Vermicelli is usually soaked in hot water until soft. However, make sure to read instructions on the package before cooking. Once they are cooked, rinse them under cold water until they are cool, but do not leave them soaked as it will make them soft and tasteless.

To assemble, put the pasta or noodle in the small bowl. Dress it with all the toppings. Then pour the dressing. Lastly, sprinkle some sesame. If you wish, you can add some fresh lemon juice, or you can even add some other toppings. Be creative!

You are sure to enjoy this cool noodle dish on a very hot summer day.

Itadakimasu.

Ai and her husband operate a Jamaican-Japanese food takeout restaurant. She is also a founder of Epiphany Media Solutions, ACI International, Kingston Rock and Recovery Japan.

Try this recipe and let us know how it turns out! Send comments or questions to lifestyle@gleanerjm.com, or our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gleaner-Lifestyle.