Ise Udon

In this article, I would like to introduce about Ise Udon, which is types of Japanese thick white noodles. This is a specialty food of my hometown, Mie prefecture. You can eat it in Ise famous for Ise shrine and also in a lot of cities in Mie prefecture. I wish you would try Ise Udon when you came to Mie, Japan by reading this article. Now, I want to tell more clearly.
Generally, Ordinary Udon is about 1 cm in diameter and it has strong “koshi” means chewy. On the other hand, size of Ise Udon is twice so we can be satisfied with little amount of Udon. And also there is no koshi or not chewy. Another different point is tastes. A soup stock is composed of soy sauce, dried bonito, sea tangle and “Iriko”. “Iriko” is kind of laver. It is especially popular in Mie. Like this, ingredients of the soup are almost black, so Ise Udon looks black. However taste is contrary to the looks because they are sweet. Ingredients of Ise Udon are very simple. Only a long green onion is used as topping.
Hoi An in Vietnam, there is traditional noodle so called “Karaou”. It is said that the noodle’s routes is from Ise in Mie. One merchant from Mie came to Vietnam and conveyed a Ise Udon in 17th century. In fact, Ise Udon may popular all of world in different ways and shapes.
I like Ise Udon very much. My mother sometimes cooks at lunch. Many mothers in Mie have own recipe and it has inherited from generation to generation. Of course, people can delicious Ise Udon in Ise. If you go to Ise shrine, I recommend that you go to “Okage Yokocho”, a shopping and food district. You can eat good and traditional Ise Udon there.