Japanese Cold Noodles (Hiyashi Chuka)

Hiyachi Chuka literally means “chilled Chinese.” However, it is a Japanese dish with chilled ramen noodles and various colorful toppings. Popular toppings include strips of egg crepes, cucumber, ham, boiled chicken, boiled bean sprouts, tomatoes, beni shoga (pickled red ginger), and imitation crab. Soy sauce or sesame-based dressing is poured over the noodles and toppings.

This is a common cold noodle salad in Japan, and always great to eat when the weather is hot. Restaurants in Japan usually serve them during the summer.

This recipe uses dried chukamen noodles. In Hiyashi Chuka, cooked noodles are not put in hot soup. The noodles don’t get cooked and softened further by hot liquid, so dried chukamen works for this recipe. The great thing about dried noodles is that they are easier to find at a lot of local stores in the US or online. They also have a long shelf life, so it is great to keep in your pantry. They are usually packaged similarly to dried udon or soba noodles.  

Toppings are usually thinly sliced meat and vegetables and you can add anything you like. Even small tonkatsu (deep fried pork) can be great if you don’t mind the extra work. Crunchy vegetables like carrots and daikon radish and leafy vegetables like lettuce will work nicely, too.

Before you eat, you can add extra vinegar to the table if you like. Karashi, Japanese hot yellow mustard (not western mustard like Dijon) will give a little kick to the dish.