Oyster Soba Noodle Soup

This is an easy & satisfying oyster soba noodle soup lunch. This was actually my first home-made meal on the first day of our partial lockdown (“circuit-breaker”) but due to an oversight, I’m posting the recipe as we entered the half point mark (1 month) :P The second meal of that day was made with the same ingredients but with a different topping (instant shrimp wontons).

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Oyster Soba Noodle Soup Recipe
On the eve of the lockdown, there were crazy queues at all the supermarkets. So I went to The Seafood Market Place with a short 5-minute queue and bought a 1kg bag of frozen oysters (along with a bag of frozen crayfish). So that was how I ended up cooking with oysters on the first day of staying home :p

Oyster Soba Noodle Soup Ingredients
Main ingredients. Carrot slices, dried mushrooms caps, Chinese spinach, and oysters meat.

Oysters
The oysters. If I am making this dish again (in less chaotic times) I would buy plump jumbo oysters like those I used for my oyster donburi. But these are still decent.

Soba Soup Sauce (Tsuyu)
The soba noodle sauce called “tsuyu” in Japanese (above) and soba noodles were purchased from Daiso. This is a staple in my pantry because it’s cheap & delicious. Outside of Daiso, such noodle sauce and noodles are widely available at the Japanese sections of supermarkets.

Soba, Dried Mushrooms, Carrots
The main reason I love this recipe is because everything other than the oysters cooks in the same pot. That meant I first boiled the water to cook the carrots, soba noodles and mushrooms (pictured above). After I dished them out, I cooked the Chinese spinach in the remaining water. The advantage of using dried mushrooms is that they store better in the pantry during this period, and the soaking water added a depth of umami to the soup broth. However, they can be substituted with fresh shiitake mushrooms.

Ingredients (Soba, Dried Mushrooms, Carrots, Spinach)
When cooled, I squeezed out excess water from the spinach. I divided what I made into two batches, one for lunch (this oyster soba), while the other half was saved for my shrimp wonton soba soup for dinner.

Oysters Soup
Then I prepared the soup base, which was the instant soba sauce and water. I placed the oysters on a slotted ladle (pictured above) to be cooked in the boiling soup like hotpot. In this way, they won’t overcook.

Oyster Soba Noodle Soup Recipe
Top noodles with the cooked oysters and pour the hot soup over.

Oyster Soba Noodle Soup Recipe

You can use (pricier but more premium) jumbo oysters or more value-for-money smaller oysters for this recipe. Cook them in a slotted ladle in the boiling soup according to the size of the oysters.

Ingredients:

  • 100g frozen oysters thaw before use; rinsed & drained
  • 6 dried mushrooms use the quick-cooking variety; see cooking note below
  • 2 servings (about 100g or more) dried soba noodles
  • 8 slices carrot cut to flower shapes if desired
  • 2 stalks Chinese spinach (puay leng) separate leaves & stalks; cut to 5-cm sections
  • 1.5l water & 1 tsp fine salt
  • 1 stalk spring onion (green top) chopped

(A) Soup Base (for two servings)

  • 500ml water
  • 4 tbsp instant soba soup sauce see cooking note below
  • 4 tbsp filtered mushroom soaking water
  • 1 spring onion white bottom (optional)

Directions:

  1. Prepare dried mushrooms by soaking them in a small bowl of hot water until softened. Discard the stems, squeeze out excess water from the caps when cooled and set aside.
  2. Cook all ingredients except oysters. In a large pot with 1.5l water and 1 tsp salt added, bring to a boil. Add soba, mushroom and carrot. Bring to a boil for 4 minutes, then dish them out. Run the soba under running cold water to cool it down. Using the same pot of water, add Chinese spinach stems and boil for 1 minute. Then add spinach leaves and boil for 30 seconds. Take out the spinach using a slotted ladle, run them under running cold water, then wring out the excess water. Set all these ingredients aside.
  3. Distribute the ingredients evenly among two serving bowls.
  4. Cook oysters & soup base. In a smaller pot, bring (A) to a boil. Then using a ladle, cook the oysters in a similar way of doing hotpot, until they are just done and still plump. Add the oysters as toppings to the serving bowls. Run the hot soup through a fine sieve onto the serving bowls to get particle-free soup. Garnish with spring onions and serve.

Cooking Note(s)

  1. I use quick cooking dried mushrooms (thinnest and cheapest variety) which cooks in about 4 minutes. Some dried mushrooms take a long time to cook and are not suitable for this recipe.  Alternatively, you can use fresh shiitake mushrooms.
  2. I used soba sauce from Daiso. You can use your favourite brand and adjust the amount of water needed to taste. Alternatively, you can use any instant soup options (boullion cube, tetra-pak chicken stock diluted with some water, or any home-made clear soup).
  3. After cooking the oysters in the boiling soup, the soup will have small particles of cooked oysters. Run them through a fine sieve onto the bowl for a better presentation.