Handa somen is the noted thick somen of Handa in Tsurugi, Tokushima, made in the Yoshino River valley where mountain wind and clear water suit noodle-drying. It is hand-stretched somen, but spun to an unusually heavy gauge — fuller than ordinary somen and sitting somewhere between somen and hiyamugi — which gives it a firm, chewy bite rare in so fine a noodle. Most often it is eaten cold, drained over ice and dipped in tsuyu in the summer heat, but it is just as at home hot as nyumen, simmered in broth in the cold months. Within Japan's many regional somen, Handa's is recognized for that distinctive thickness and koshi, a Tokushima specialty quite apart from the wispy somen of Miwa or Banshu.
By local account the craft came to Handa in the middle Edo period, carried up the Yoshino River by the boatmen who plied its course, who are said to have learned hand-stretched noodle-making from Miwa in Nara — the cradle of Japanese somen — and brought the technique home, giving Handa somen something on the order of three centuries of history. Stretching the dough only as far as their own tables required, the boatmen left it thicker than Miwa's fine thread, and that heavier gauge became the regional style. The cold wind off the Shikoku mountains and the river's clean water proved well suited to drying noodles, and what began as winter side-work for boatmen's families grew into an established local trade.
Cold, the noodle is taut and slippery with a clean, cool snap, the extra thickness giving a real chew where thin somen would only slide away. It carries more wheat flavor than wispy somen, faintly sweet, and is built to hold a dipping tsuyu without going limp. Served hot as nyumen it softens but keeps a gentle resistance, the broth soaking into the fuller strand. Either way the pleasure is in the koshi — a firm, springy body unusual for a noodle this fine.
Somen is made by hand-stretching, not cutting: a well-kneaded, salted wheat dough is coated with oil and drawn out over repeated rounds, twisting it between rods so the gluten aligns lengthwise into a strong, parallel grain. That oriented gluten is what gives hand-stretched noodles their springy koshi. The salt strengthens the dough and slows fermentation as the strands rest and stretch; the oil keeps them from sticking and lets them draw thinner without tearing. Handa's noodles are simply stretched less far than ordinary somen, left at a fuller diameter, so they keep more body and a firmer bite. They are dried in the cold valley wind, which sets the strands slowly and evenly. Cooking is brief; for cold service they are shocked in iced water, which tightens the surface starch and sharpens the snap.
Variations
Cold with a katsuo-and-kombu tsuyu and condiments — grated ginger, negi, myoga, sudachi — is the summer standard, while in winter it is simmered hot as nyumen, sometimes in a sudachi or fush broth. The same thick strands also stand up well to stir-fried somen-chanpuru-style treatments. It belongs to the broad family of Japanese hand-stretched somen but is set apart by its heavier gauge.
On the Palate
Where Handa Somen sits in the Japanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 2
How it's made
7 steps · 20 min active + 10 min waiting
- 15 min
Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a rolling boil, allowing plenty of room for the noodles.
- 26 min
Make a dipping tsuyu by warming dashi with soy sauce and mirin, then chilling it; prepare condiments of grated ginger and chopped negi.
- 31 min
Add the Handa somen to the boiling water, stirring once so the strands separate.
- 43 min
Boil until just tender but still firm, a little longer than thin somen because of the heavier gauge.
Watch outBoil to just tender but still firm, a touch longer than thin somen — the heavier gauge needs it, and the springy koshi is the point, so don't cook it soft.
- 52 min
Drain and rinse the noodles under cold running water, rubbing gently to wash off surface starch.
Watch outRinse under cold water rubbing gently to wash off the surface starch — leave it on and the noodles turn slippery-gummy instead of clean and springy.
- 62 min
Shock the noodles in iced water to firm them, then drain well.
- 71 min
Heap the cold noodles over ice and serve with the chilled tsuyu and condiments alongside; or for nyumen, warm the drained noodles through in hot seasoned dashi.
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