Teriyaki Chicken Udon Noodle Soup

4 x 200g (7 oz) pre-packaged udon noodles

600g (1 lb 5 oz) chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces

sea salt

vegetable oil, for frying

sliced spring onion (scallions), to serve

sesame seeds, to serve

Homemade teriyaki sauce:

¼ cup sake

¼ cup mirin

¼ cup Japanese soy sauce

¼ cup brown sugar

Dashi broth:

8 cups dashi broth (use dashi powder and follow packet instructions)

3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce

1 tbsp mirin

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp sea salt*

• To prep, soak your bamboo skewers in some cool water. While they’re soaking, let’s make the teriyaki sauce. Heat the sake, mirin, soy sauce and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, then simmer on low for 3-4 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Set aside until ready to cook.
• Thread chicken pieces onto your soaked bamboo skewers. Transfer to a tray, then sprinkle with sea salt.
• Make up the dashi according to packet instructions (you want 8 cups in total – I find one sachet is usually enough for 4 cups of broth, so I used 2 sachets for this recipe). Place the dashi broth, soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a pot over high heat and bring to a simmer. Taste your broth and add salt to taste, if required. Then turn off the heat but cover and keep warm.
• Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush the pan with a little oil. Cook chicken skewers for 2–3 minutes on each side until almost cooked, turning every 30 seconds or so and brushing each time with a generous amount of teriyaki sauce. Keep turning and basting the chicken until the sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through. Transfer skewers to a plate.
• Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the udon noodles and cook for around 3 minutes or until just separated. Use tongs to remove the noodles from the water. Drain and divide among serving bowls.
• Using a spider strainer, lightly blanch small handfuls of baby spinach in the noodle-cooking water for a few seconds until just wilted. Transfer to a serving bowl and repeat for each bowl. Ladle the warm dashi broth (reheat it if necessary) over the noodles and spinach. Rest 2 of the teriyaki skewers over each bowl. Sprinkle with spring onion and sesame seeds, then serve.
• Notes: – If you’re using a dashi sachet that contains MSG, you’ll probably find you don’t need this additional salt adding. However, I chose a variety of dashi that contained no MSG, hence my generous amount of seasoning.