This dish is a pretty recent but intense addition to my comfort-food repertoire. After my husband walked out on me in spring of 2019, the first meal I felt motivated enough to cook for myself and eat a couple weeks later was tempura. It was the first inkling I had that might be OK at some point in the future, that I might be able to take care of myself, nourish myself, enjoy life again. (Spoiler alert: that all came true.)
Flash forward to the other night when I came home from work tired and cold. I’d had a looooong day telling everyone above and below me no: no we couldn’t hire those positions we lost, no we didn’t have the money for that, no we couldn’t wait any longer to start that search, no I couldn’t take on that new program with no additional resources…. I generally try to turn no’s into yes’s (as in, yes, we’d be happy to do that for you if you can get us X,Y, and Z). But I just plumb ran out of yes that day.
Fortunately, I knew exactly what I needed to make for dinner: kake soba. It comes together super fast if you already have dashi made (or if you use instant hondashi powder), and you can put all kinds of garnishes on this savory, steamy soba-noodle soup, whatever you’ve got in the fridge. But tempura is by far my favorite garnish. I always tempura some butterflied shrimp, but I also especially like thin slices of pumpkin or delicata squash, onion rings, and those mini sweet peppers. I also threw some steamed baby bok-choy on there for a soft and toothsome counterpoint to the crunch. After eating a bowl of hot kake soba with a little cup of ice-cold sake on the side, I started to see how maybe no could turn back into yes again at some point, just like I did that spring night 3 years ago. Try it, you’ll see what I mean.
The Rookery 