Zaru Soba Noodles

Zaru-soba is cold buckwheat noodle (soba) served on a bamboo plate (zaru). It's served with dipping soup (mentsuyu) and some toppings. Add toppings in the dipping soup and dip a small amount of soba noodles in the soup to eat. Packages of dried soba noodles are availabe at Asian grocery stores. There are different kinds of soba noodles, depending on the amount of the buckwheat in the noodles. Usually, soba noodles are darker than somen noodles.
Ingredients:

* 14 oz. dried soba (buckwheat noodles)
* 2 cups - 2 1/2 cups mentsuyu (dipping sauce)
* Wasabi paste and finely chopped green onion for toppings

Preparation:
Boil water in a large pot. Add dried soba noodles in the boiling water, gently stirring noodles with chopsticks. Turn down the heat to medium. Boil soba noodles, following the package instructions. It usually takes a couple minutes to boil soba. If it's necessary, add a little bit of cold water in the pot to prevent overflowing. Drain soba and wash the noodles with hands under running water. Divide soba among four plates. Divide mentsuyu (noodle dipping soup) among four small cups. Serve finely chopped green onion and wasabi paste on other small plates.