Cold Sesame Soba | Goma Dare Soba
This recipe for 胡麻だれ蕎麦 has been adapted from the original published in Japanese Comfort Cooking: An Opinionated Guide toModern, Homey, Classic Japanese Recipes by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat (© 2026, Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House).
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Sesame broth
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoon | 210ml Dashi, regular or shiitake (see Notes)
- ¼ cup | 60ml Japanese sesame paste or tahini
- ¼ cup | 60ml unseasoned rice vinegar
- ¼ cup | 60ml mirin (see Notes)
- 1 cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup sugar or agave syrup
- 2 cups unsweetened soy milk
Soba and toppings
- 12 ounces | 360g dried soba noodles (4 portions)
- 2 Persian or 1 small English cucumber, cut into thin strips
- 4 ounces | 120g asparagus or green beans, blanched, cooled, and
- 1 firm-ripe avocado, sliced
- ½ small | 60g red onion, thinly sliced and soaked in cold water for 10 minutes
- 2 teaspoons wasabi
- 1 or 2 full sheets nori, snipped into narrow, short strips (see Note)
Instructions
- Make the sesame broth: In a large bowl, whisk together the dashi, sesame paste, rice vinegar, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and soy milk until smooth. (Depending on the package, you might need to knead the sesame paste a bit to get it all out.) Keep the broth in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.
- Cook the soba: To cook the soba, first prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl and set it in the sink. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the soba and cook for about 3 minutes, or until it is cooked through but still retains some bite. Drain and dunk the noodles in the ice water bath. When the noodles are cool, drain them and set aside.
- Assemble and serve: Divide the soba among four serving bowls. Pour ½ to 1 cup (120ml to 240ml) of the sesame broth over the noodles in each bowl. Top each bowl with equal portions of cucumber, asparagus, avocado, and drained red onion, arranging them in separate mounds. Add a small dab (about ½ teaspoon) of wasabi to each bowl. Sprinkle the nori over the top for garnish.
- Serve immediately, encouraging everyone to mix everything together before diving in. Refrigerate leftover broth for up to a week to use again.
Notes
- For the best flavor, make dashi yourself. Use my recipes for regular or shiitake dashi here.
- No mirin? Use this recipe to make some ASAP!
- Instead of red onion, use a medium shallot.
- Instead of Japanese nori, use Korean gim, toasted seaweed sheets.
