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What is Somen?
Somen is a thin noodle made with wheat flour, similar to angel hair pasta. Somen noodles are sticky, as you would expect, and given how thin they are, if you let them stick, you’re going to have a mangled, unmanagable mess. To prevent the noodles from sticking, they are typically served in a bowl of cold water. As a result, somen is especially popular as a summer food for staying cool.
The Tanabata Connect
Tanabata–the Star Festival–is a festival held in the summer on July 7th. The festival has its origins in the mythology of the love story between Princess Orihime and Hikoboshi, two mythical, celestial characters.
Somen is often eaten on Tanabata, but there is no known connection between eating somen and the story of Tanabata. Some people speculate that the somen noodles resemble the weaving threads that Orihime uses in the story.
Whether somen and The Star Festival have any direct connection is unknown, but they do have a coincidental connection: Tanabata is a summer festival, and somen is popular to eat in the summer.
How to Serve Somen
As I wrote before, the most common way to serve somen is in a bowl of ice water. Just quickly bowl the somen, then immediately transfer it to the ice water. Place the bowl of somen at the table and eat with other cold sides like meat and vegetables.
Serving Somen for a Special Occasion
Because somen is popular to eat during the festive, summer months, it’s often served in a unique style called nagashi-somen (sometimes called “flowing somen”): the noodles are sent down an aquaduct made of bamboo, and then circulated inside a vessel using running water, sending the somen around the table reminiscent of the sushi-go-rounds Japan is famous for. In fact, specialty somen restaurants will even have custom tables with water channels built in, allowing cold water and delicious noodles to flow freely all around the table.
Nagashi-somen is a fun and relaxing way to cool off with family.
Buying a Flowing Somen Machine
Flowing somen machines are simple devices. Unless your family has a real love of somen, you probably aren’t going to bring out the big guns more than a few times a year. With that in mind, here are a few things to think about when buying a nagashi-somen machine.
Is it wired or battery-powered?
If you’re confident that you won’t have trouble with someone in the family tugging or tripping on the power cable, then you can avoid managing batteries by getting a wired nagashi-somen machine. However, if you have little monkeys running all over the place, you can put your mind at ease with a battery-powered machine.
Is it easy to clean?
You especially want to be able to take it apart, wipe it down and dry it quickly to prevent mold from forming.
How much space do you need to store it?
Some nagashi-somen machines can be quite elaborate–cool swirling “slides”, etc. Even if they aren’t elaborate, some machines can be somewhat large. Those are usually for parties or large families. Do you need something big? Do you have space to store it?
How easy is it to assemble?
Since you will likely need to break it down and reassemble it, the flowing somen machine needs to be easy to put together. You may lose the manual, or you might want the kids to put it together. Having a nagashi-somen machine that’s easy to assemble helps get the fun started fast without tears from you or your little whipper-snappers.
Extra features
Some nagashi-somen machines have extra features, such as space in the middle of the machine to put other food or condiments. If you’re short of space at the dinner table, having some extra usable space in the middle of the machine can give you some valuable room to breath. On the other hand, it may be an extra thing you have to clean, too, so you may prefer something simple.
Food Ideas
Somen is typically eaten with a watery dip call mentsuyu. It’s a simple, light dressing meant to compliment the light flavor of the somen. However, it’s also common to add a few other foods into the meal for some variety.
For condiments, the most popular are grated ginger, chopped green onions, and shiso leaves.
For “side” dishes, the go-tos are tamagoyaki (a favorite in our family), tempura (another light food that pairs well with somen), and cucumber. Some people also like tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms.
For little kids, you may also want to grab some kitchen shears and cut up their somen to make it easier for them to eat with a spoon.
Chill Out With Chilled Food
Belly full of somen? Well then, what’s for dessert? Another great kitchen gadget that pairs well with both somen and the festive spirit of Tanabata is the Fruit Plant. If you’re serving fruit with some ice cream, then you might find the ice cream spade from Kai helpful.
