Noodles
Sara Udon
Sara udon — noodles fried and topped with a thick vegetable-and-meat sauce, eaten with vinegar and Worcester sauce
Using the same toppings as champon, thick noodles are fried until dry or crisp thin noodles are draped in a mixed-vegetable gravy — said to have begun in 1899, when the same restaurant owner who created champon made a broth-free version of it.
- Origin: Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
- About 970 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
There are two versions: 'thick-noodle sara udon' and 'thin-noodle sara udon,' the latter topped with a savory sauce over crisp-fried thin noodles — and locals in Nagasaki are said to distinguish clearly between the two. Both come loaded with pork, shrimp, squid, napa cabbage, carrot and shiitake, and are traditionally finished with a splash of Nagasaki's own Worcestershire-style sauce and vinegar. Some households even prefer letting a portion sit overnight before finishing it the next day.
How it's made
For the thick-noodle version, noodles and ingredients are stir-fried together until nearly all the liquid cooks off. For the thin-noodle version, noodles are deep-fried until crisp, then topped with a savory sauce of stir-simmered pork, shrimp, squid and vegetables. Both are finished at the table with a drizzle of Worcestershire-style sauce and vinegar. At Obon or New Year, many households order a whole platter delivered from a local Chinese restaurant to share with relatives.
Why it took this shape
The dish is said to have started in 1899, when a Chinese restaurant owner made a brothless version of champon. The original was a stir-fried, thick-noodle style; the thin, crisp-noodle version topped with sauce that spread later is considered a separate lineage. The name is said to come from people's surprise at seeing noodles served on a flat plate rather than in a deep bowl. Being hearty, nutritious and popular with children is said to be why it's a fixture on school lunch menus too.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
- What staff say, and how to respondCommon set phrases you'll hear at restaurants, with what they mean and what to do when you hear them. You don't need to memorize them — just recognizing them is enough.
Dishes in the same style
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Abura ZomenPork and somen are fried together with a splash of broth, the oil and stock emulsifying into a silky coat on the noodles. Just how somen took root in wheat-free Amami isn't clear, but the dish is a fixture whenever people gather, not least for the August Dance festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Related lineage
- Nagasaki ChamponIn 1899, Chen Ping-shun, a Fujian-born restaurateur who founded Shikairo, devised the dish as a cheap, nutritious noodle meal for the Chinese students and residents of Meiji-era Nagasaki. He never trademarked the name, letting it spread freely to other kitchens across the city.
- Gomoku Ankake YakisobaChinese noodles are pan-fried crisp, then topped with a thick gravy of stir-fried pork, vegetables, and seafood — a dish said to share its gravy with kanton men while branching off by frying the noodles dry and crisp, a Japanese diner invention.
Also from Nagasaki
- ArumadoA hard-boiled egg dyed pink is wrapped in fish paste and steamed into a kamaboko log that shows a pink-rimmed cross-section when cut — a Hirado specialty, with kin dishes called "arimado" in Sasebo and "ryugan" in Nagasaki.
- Goto UdonA hand-pulled noodle from Shinkamigoto, Nagasaki. Its technique is thought to trace back to envoys returning from Tang China, and the island's camellia oil is worked into the dough for a smooth, elastic bite.
- HanahajikiCucumber, carrot, deep-fried tofu, and shrimp are cut into strips and fanned out on a plate to be dipped in a hot mustard vinegar-miso — a dish from Isahaya said to be named for how the mustard "flicks the nose," traditionally served at Buddhist memorial services.
- HatoshiShrimp and squid paste sandwiched in bread and deep-fried, a Nagasaki specialty said to have arrived from China in the Meiji era, growing from a shippoku banquet course into a food loved across the city.
- HikadoFish or chicken and vegetables like daikon and carrot are diced fine and simmered, thickened at the end with grated sweet potato — said to originate in a meat stew eaten by Portuguese residents of Nagasaki, its name from the Portuguese word for "minced."
- HikitoshiChicken raised at home is butchered for this Iki hot pot, typically enriched with iki-doufu, a rich local tofu, and firm-boiled somen — said to have begun as a dish served to guests in the inner parlor, its name tracing to "hiki-toshi," leading a guest through.