Seafood Udon Noodle Soup

This seafood udon noodle soup served in a personal-sized clay pot takes only about 20 minutes to make. Even though I’m cooking for one, there is a wide variety of various seafood, veggies and mushrooms in my meal. I want to cook a sumptuous lunch for myself once in a while :p This recipe is perfect for work-from-home (WFH) or solo meals.

See Also:

• Chicken Udon Noodle Soup Recipe
• Meals for One or Two (Ideal for WFH)
• Yosenabe (Japanese Hot Pot) Recipe
• Easy Japanese Recipes
• One-Dish Meals Recipes

I cooked and served my seafood udon noodle soup directly in a shallow donabe (Japanese earthern claypot). It definitely helps the dish to look more attractive :p

INGREDIENTS

Assorted seafood pack for one pax. I vacuumed sealed a few of these lonely WFH-friendly packs for the freezer. Whenever needed, just thaw the pack for cooking. My seafood pack consists of asari clams, tiger prawn and a shell-on scallop. With this preparation beforehand, I can enjoy a variety of seafood anytime, even though I am cooking for only one or two persons.

Rest of the ingredients. Napa cabbage, shiitake & enoki mushrooms, scallion and fresh udon noodles. The lone tofu is a freeze-dried version which enables me to add 1-2 tofu cubes in my meal without buying a whole tofu block every time. I used about 1/3 packet of udon each time I cook, as I prefer to be full on ingredients and eat lesser carbs.

STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS

1. MAKE SOUP BASE

I tried something new for the soup base with ready ingredients in my pantry. I used 2 spoons of pork (or chicken) ramen soup sauce, 1/4 bouillon cube and 2 slices of ginger. It turned out to be good!

Add water and bring the soup to a boil, making sure that the bouillon cube is fully dissolved.

Side note: I boiled the scallop and prawn for one minute in the soup base, because they couldn’t fit into my clay pot. 

2. ARRANGE THE INGREDIENTS IN THE DONABE (CLAY POT)

Line a single-person sized donabe or clay pot with generous amount of napa cabbage.

Arrange the rest of the ingredients (udon, scallion, shiitake & enoki mushrooms, asari clams, tofu, carrot and naruto fish cake) on top of the cabbage. Add the scallop and prawn at this step if there is room.

Pour earlier prepared soup into the claypot.

Bring to a boil, cover with lid and simmer until everything is cooked. Mine was cooked in about 3 minutes, pictured above.

Garnish with a halved ramen egg (optional) and serve.

Print

Seafood Udon Noodle Soup Recipe

Cook and serve this dish in a single-serving shallow donnabe or claypot. Alternatively, you can cook it in a regular pot and serve the dish in a bowl.

This recipe serves one (ideal solo or WFH lunch), but feel free to adjust the ingredients and the size of the claypot used to cook for more.

Check out the ingredients & step-by-step photos on the previous page.

Serves: 1

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

• 4 napa cabbage leaves cut to bite-sized chunks
• 1 large shell-on scallop shell scrubbed
• 1 shelled & deveined prawn
• 8 asari or local clams
• 1 serving fresh udon noodles
• 2 fresh shiitake mushroom caps optional: make a cross cut design
• small bundle enoki mushroom ends trimmed
• 3 carrot flowers
• 3 diagonally sliced Japanese scallion (negi)
• 1 slice Japanese fish cake optional
• 1-2 tofu cubes optional; I am using freeze dried tofu 

(A) Soup Base

• 500ml water
• 2 ginger slices
• 1/4 bouillon soup cube (chicken or fish)
• 2 tbsp concentrated pork (or chicken) ramen “paitan” sauce

Suggested Garnishes

• half ramen egg
• chopped spring onions

Optional:

• Donabe or clay pot for one person can use any pot and dish out to a bowl if not available

Directions:

1. Prepare soup base by bringing (A) to a boil, making sure the soup cube is entirely dissolved. Season to taste.
2. Prepare the donabe (clay pot) and cook. Line the base of the pot with napa cabbage. Arrange the rest of the ingredients on top of the cabbage. Pour prepared soup base into the pot, and cover with lid to simmer until the cabbage and mushrooms are cooked, about 3 minutes. Discard any clams which remained closed after cooking. Garnish with ramen egg & spring onions. Serve immediately.

Cooking Note(s):

1. I made this pork ramen soup base as they are ready ingredients in my pantry. You can make dashi soup base, or an even simpler one made with instant soba sauce.
2. To have variety in a bowl in a jiffy when cooking for one or two (ideal for those still working from home), I used the following:

• single-pax assorted seafood pack (see pic) for the freezer: mine contains scallop, clams and prawn.
• freeze-dried tofu (see pic) just soak in water, squeeze out excess water and it’s ready for cooking.

Ingredients Used: boullion cube • carrot • clam • egg • enoki mushroom • ginger • Japanese fish cake • napa cabbage • negi • ramen paitan concentrate • shellfish • shiitake mushroom • spring onion • tiger prawn • tofu • udon