Okinawa style noodle with soy braised pork belly

Have you ever tried Okinawa soba noodle? It is one of the my favorite noodle dishes!

Tomorrow, October 17th is actually Okinawa Soba Day in Japan, which I just got to know it last week though.

Okinawa is the southernmost prefecture in Japan. It consists of many subtropical islands and popular resort town. It is really really beautiful there, highly recommend!

These are some of the photos when I was in Ishigaki island in Okinawa.

Okinawa has the most unique food, language, and mixed culture because of their history; it used to be the independent kingdom, and then ruled by the Satsuma domain, United States before becoming the Okinawa prefecture. In Okinawa, I always feel that I am in a foreign country—so many foods I have never seen, dialects that I can’t understand, and different styles of architecture!

The big incentive to travel Okinawa for me is to try their authentic Okinawa soba noodle. Okinawa soba is the hot noodle soup topped with soy sauce braised pork belly or pork rib. For me, Okinawa soba is something like between Ramen and Udon. It is richer than Udon and lighter than Ramen. This is something I want to eat when I feel sick.

Okinawa soba is something you can’t easily find outside Japan, but you can make it easily at home without any special ingredients. My recipe is the  simple and easy version of Okinawa soba.

My favorite part of this noodle dish is the broth, which is made of the pork stock and bonito flakes. It is hearty and full of umami. It is difficult and time consuming to take the pork stock from scratch with pork bones, so I just use the simmering liquid of pork belly as the pork stock.

First, get the skin off pork belly, white parts of green onion, and three thinly sliced ginger

Put these with 10 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Skim the scum thoroughly.

When the pork belly doesn’t make any more scum, put a lid on and turn the heat to the lowest and braise for 2.5 hours.

After 2.5 hours, take out the pork belly. Discard the green onion and ginger and reserve the pork stock. Refrigerate the pork stock.

Slice the pork belly into ½ inch thick.

In a pot, put soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and salt and place sliced pork belly. Bring to a boil.

Turn down the heat and simmer until the liquid is syrupy for about 15 minutes. Flip the slices of pork belly occasionally.

Make a soup for noodle. Once the pork stock is chilled down, strain it with a fine mesh sieve to remove the fat on the top of the stock. Measure 8 cups of pork stock.

Put the pork stock, bonito flakes, salt, and light soy sauce. Bring to the boil and turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Strain the soup discard the bonito flakes. Return the soup into a pot. Add more salt if needed.

(The pictures below is for two people portions—4 cups of pork stock with 2 portions of cooked udon. I save the 4 more cups for the later use.)

Cook 4 portions of udon noodles according to the instruction of the package. Rinse under cold water and strain it well. Put the noodle back into the pot of the soup and heat the noodle. Put the cooked udon noodle in the pot of the soup and heat the noodle.

Divide the noodle soup into 4 noodle bowls. Place about 3 slices of pork belly on top. Garnish with chopped green onions and ginger.