A Taste of Okinawa The 3 ‘R’s to good eating – Restaurants, Reviews & Recipes 4-page pullout STRIPES OKINAWA E OF OK AUGUST 20 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 AST INAW A T 2 A Your new favorite lunchtime go-to! Fore Fathers Food Truck serves up perfectly cooked specialty burgers, hearty hotdogs, and mouth-watering BBQ. Indulge in your midday cravings with any one of the delicious burgers on the vast menu. Or, bring your friends and chow down on all your other BBQ grill favorites like the tender pulled pork sandwich! Locations change daily so make sure to follow @forefathersfoodtruck on Facebook. Visit during lunch hours Monday – Friday or look for them at events across Kadena Air Base and Okinawa. One bite and you’ll know you found your new go-to for the best lunch on the island! Taste the Hawaiian vibe at Hale Noa Café Owned by a chef in Hawaii, Hale Noa Café has been attracting a wide-range of foreign customers. With its Hawaiian vibe, Hale Noa serves up the some of the best of the 50th state’s favorite foods. We choose the fresh- est ingredients for the best taste made from scratch. Enjoy Macadamia Nut Pancakes, Hawaiian Bowl, Fresh Poke Bowl and more! Hale Noa’s fluffy French Toast with berries and crème brulee sauce is to die for! Afterwards, wash it all down with one of our healthy and home- made smoothies. Start your day with a superior break- fast at Hale Noa Café. AUGUST 20 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 E OF OK STRIPES OKINAWA AST INAW A T 3 A Soba à la Okinawa You’ve never had noodles like this before STRIPES OKINAWA n Japan, everybody loves noodles, and Okinawans are no different. In fact, they’ve got their own re- 1. Ginger Igional strand of the classic Asian cuisine – Oki- nawa soba. It’s not only a local favorite, but the dish of choice for many visitors who come in search of a 2. Stewed pork belly true taste of Okinawa. The uninitiated may think Okinawa soba is some 3. Green onion mere local take on those Japanese buckwheat noo- dles that can be slurped in just about any other cor- 4. Soup (Seaweed, ner of the country. But they’re wrong. This is a whole different dish. bonito, pork, etc.) Called “suba” in the local dialect, Okinawa soba is made from wheat flour instead of “sobako,” or buck- 5. Fish cake wheat, like its counterpart from up north. The noodle is because the noodles and soup can be purchase at gro- a little flatter and thicker compare to Chinese noodles. cery stores – and there are more than 300 restaurants The color ranges from white to light yellow. As the matter that specialize in it.” of fact, the shape and the style of Okinawa soba noodles It is said that the local love affair with noodles started vary from island to island within the prefecture. For ex- in the early 1500s when they were first imported from ample, the Yaeyama Islands soba noodles tend to have a China to the Ryukyu Kingdom. During the Meiji Era slight circular cross shape. (1868-1912), they began gaining popularity, but were still The soup is flavored with seaweed, bonito flakes and tween 500 to 800 yen ($5 to $8). considered a luxury food. Over time, however, the grow- pork, which is cooked for many hours and very carefully It’s so tasty, and the tender pork belly soaked in rich ing popularity of noodles gave birth to the local version skimmed. broth just melts in your mouth. The meat is well braised Standard toppings include fish cake, green onion and a that Okinawans of all ages today have come to know and until tender enough to be cut by chopstick. The boiled thick slice of stewed pork belly (“san-mai niku”) or pork love. How much? noodle is chewy and goes well with the soup. It is addic- rib (“soki”); while the dish is usually garnished with red Consider this: Every year for the past decade and a tive. It is loved so much, in fact, pickled ginger. Boiled pig’s feet, or half, Okinawa has been celebrating Okinawa Soba-no-Hi, that more than 190,000 bowls are “tebichi,” and pork cartilage are also For more on Okinawa’s soba story or Okinawa Soba Day on Oct. 17. On this auspicious day, popular toppings. Want an extra kick (in Japanese), visit consumed each day in Okinawa, events honoring all things soba take place throughout to your soba? Add some “koregusu,” a www.oki-soba.jp/about/ according to the Okinawa Fresh Okinawa. Some shops even handout soba free of change. popular condiment made of hot-chili- okisoba.html Noodle Cooperative Association. Soba restaurants tout special menu items and discounts; infused local “awamori” liquor. “Okinawa soba is very unique and an estimated 2,000 other eateries showcase soba on Each Okinawa soba restaurant has its own variation of because the soup is a combination of Chinese influenced their menus for Okinawa Soba Day. But why wait till Oc- broth and toppings, such as tofu, giblets or fried vegeta- broth made from pork and Japanese influenced broth tober? bles. In many restaurants, you can ask for a mix of vari- made from “bonito” (dried fish flakes),” says Atsunori Okinawa soba restaurants are almost everywhere in ous toppings according to preference to make your own Sunagawa, executive secretary of the cooperative. “To- Okinawa. It is quick, inexpensive and tasty. Get your bowl original bowl of Okinawa soba. Prices usually vary be- day, people don’t make home-made Okinawa soba much of authentic Okinawa soba – for a true taste of Okinawa! So(ba), what’s in a name? here is more to how Okinawa soba got its name than just its place of origin. compromise: It could be called, and hence Not long after the postwar reversion of Okinawa to the Japanese government in sold, under the special name of “Okinawa T1972, the mainland organization governing fair trade claims insisted that, accord- soba.” ing to its rules, Okinawan soba could not be sold as soba because it did not meet the Oct. 17, 1978 was the day that Okinawa minimum criteria. soba was finally, officially endorsed. Okinawa- According to Japan’s Fair Trade Commission, soba noodles must be comprised of at ns, not only celebrated the day as a victory, they least 30 percent buckwheat. Traditional Okinawan-made soba noodles, however, have made it a local holiday to honor the traditional dish always been made with 100 percent wheat. and promote the local industry. Many Okinawans protested the rule. In a bid to protect their traditional dish as well as Okinawa Soba-no-Hi, or Okinawa Soba Day has been celebrated throughout the pre- livelihoods, Okinawa soba producers and the Okinawa Noodle Maker’s Union fought to fecture on Oct. 17 ever since. have it changed. After lengthy negotiations, the Japanese government finally agreed to a - Stripes okinawa Know your noodles Names of local soba favorites (Usually) Pork Belly Pork Rib & Soba Pigs Feet & Soba “Okinawa Soba” & Soba “Soki Soba” “Tebichi Soba” “Nakami Soba” Pork Cartilage & Soba Vegetables & Soba Tofu Curd & Soba “Yasai Soba” “Yushi Tofu Soba” Have a side of ‘Jushi’ * Yushi tofu is coagulated, “Jushi” is a rice dish prepared unformed Okinawa-style tofu with a choice of ingredients, includ- (Shima tofu) that is eaten warm. ing pork and vegetables and is often Similar to “oboro tofu” in other served as a side dish with Okinawa parts of Japan, it’s favored for soba. Each restaurant uses their its rich soy taste. This tofu own original broth to cook the rice. served in soba noodles, it is a “Fuchiba jushi” is jushi with “fushi- popular dish on Okinawa. ba,” or mugwort leaves. - Photos courtesy of Okinawa Fresh Noodle Cooperative Association STRIPES OKINAWA E OF OK AUGUST 20 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 AST INAW A T 4 A Making soba from scratch Okinawa Soba Soki (spare rib) Soba Ingredients: (Serves 5) Ingredients: (Serves 4) For noodles Shikomi water For broth and noodle For spare ribs • 1.1 lb semi-strong flour • 1 tsp baking powder • 12 cups /0.63 gal water • 2 tsp salt • 1.76 lb pork spare ribs • Shikomi water (see next) • 1 egg • 5.91 inch long konbu kelp • 4 pack Okinawan noodles • 1/2 cup mirin sweet cooking • Starch • 1 tsp salt • 0.71 ounce dried bonito • red pickled ginger sake • 6.4 oz water flakes • chopped spring onion • 1.69 oz sake • 3.38 oz sake • 3 tsp soy sauce Directions Directions 1. Mix flour and 4. Add starch 1. Boil water and add 7. Drain the soup in the Shikomi water to both side the spare ribs, boil strainer and separate very well with and cut the for 3-4 minutes. the soup and spare hand. Knead dough. Cut ribs. very well for it into 5mm – 2. Drain the ribs with ten minutes. 8mm by using a strainer and wash 8. Put the soup in a pan and season with salt. a kitchen knife. well with water. This is the soup for the noodles. 2. Form deflated dough into a 5. Boil the cut 3. Cook konbu that’s 9. Season the spare ribs. Put sake, soy sauce, ball. Put it into noodle. It been soaked in wa- and mirin in another pan. a plastic bag takes about ter for 30 minutes, and set aside 15 seconds. and remove the kon- 10. Add the spare ribs to the pan, cook at me- for 30-40 min- Take out when bu just before the dium heat with a drop-lid for 10-15 min- utes.