🍜 Miso-nikomi Udon (’Udon’ Thick Wheat Noodle Simmered with Miso )
‘Miso-nikomi Udon' is one of the typical noodle dishes in Aichi Prefecture along with ‘Kishimen' (=flat wheat noodle). It is prepared by simmering Hatcho-miso soup and chewy ‘udon' (=thick wheat noodle). ‘Miso-nikomi Udon' was a dish at home, but it was served at the restaurant in Ichinomiya City in Meiji Era. After that, it became popular around Nagoya City. Hatcho-miso, representative food of Aichi Prefecture, is a soy bean miso came from Hatcho Village (current Hatcho-cho in Okazaki City), 870m (‘hatcho' in Japanese metrics in that time) away from Okazaki Castle, where Tokugawa Ieyasu lived, and it has rich flavor and thick color. It is made from soy bean only, and has been fermented and aged for a long time. Hatcho-miso is more nutritious than other type of miso, and the red miso culture has been strongly rooted for health effect in Mikawa area. Therefore, there are many local dishes used red miso in Aichi Prefecture, and ‘Miso-nikomi udon' is one of them. ‘Udon', like ‘houtou' (type of wheat noodle), is made from wheat and water only without salt. It prevents noodles from getting soft while being simmered, and keeps them chewy.