Name: How To Make Tororo Soba (Slimy Soba Noodles With Grated Nagaimo)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 80 g Dried Soba Noodles; 100 g Chinese Yam (Nagaimo); 100 ml Mentsuyu Dipping Sauce or Soba Noodle Sauce; 1 Egg Yolk; 5 g Chopped Green Onion

How To Make Tororo Soba (Slimy Soba Noodles With Grated Nagaimo)

Gluten Free Main dish Noodles Summer Traditional Under 15 Minutes Vegetarian Friendly

“Tororo” is one of the essential ingredients in Japanese cuisine. The word “Tororo” typically refers to grated yam (Yamanoimo), which includes varieties like Chinese yam (Nagaimo), Yamato-imo, and wild yam (Jinenjo).

These yams can be eaten both cooked and raw. When cooked, they have a soft and flaky texture, while raw yams offer a crunchy texture. Tororo is made by grating these raw yams.

Tororo is quite slimy and is often enjoyed like a sauce. It is typically drizzled over steamed rice, tuna sashimi, soba, and other dishes, collectively known as “Yamakake.” In this recipe, we will introduce “Tororo Soba,” a Yamakake-style recipe using Nagaimo.

Tororo is known for being a nutritious food, rich in vitamins and minerals. However, it also contains calcium oxalate, which can cause skin irritation for some people. If you experience itchiness after preparing or eating Tororo, vinegar water can help relieve the symptoms. Vinegar water can also prevent discoloration.

When you buy Nagaimo at supermarkets, it is often covered with Ogakuzu (sawdust). This is done to keep it fresh longer by maintaining proper moisture levels and preventing discoloration. The sawdust is solely for preservation, so when you use Nagaimo, be sure to rinse off all the sawdust with tap water.

Now, let’s move on to the topic of Soba. Soba is a major cuisine in Japan, and the variations can differ significantly among specialty restaurants. This largely depends on the regional location, so if you have a chance to visit Japan, try some Soba specialty restaurants in different areas. You’ll notice the differences, which is very interesting.

When cooking at home, choosing the right Soba can be confusing if you are not familiar with it. Soba comes in various types, such as Juwari-soba, Inaka-soba, Nihachi-soba, and other regional varieties. Supermarkets or online stores usually offer Nihachi Soba, which has a wheat flour to buckwheat flour ratio of two to eight. Nihachi Soba has a smooth texture and a mild flavor, making it a good choice if you are trying Soba for the first time.

Enjoy Japanese Soba both at specialty restaurants and at home, and feel free to share your comments below on making Tororo Soba with our recipe.

Overview

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Total servings: 1

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

80 g Dried Soba Noodles
100 g Chinese Yam (Nagaimo)
100 ml Mentsuyu Dipping Sauce or Soba Noodle Sauce
1 Egg Yolk
5 g Chopped Green Onion

Expert's Tip

There are some noodle sauces where you need to be careful about the dilution ratio, but this product is easy to use. Just use it as is, and you can enjoy the perfect flavor with Soba noodles. If you don’t have enough time to prepare Soba sauce from scratch but still want to enjoy a sophisticated Japanese taste, this is the one for you.

Instructions

1) Gathering the Ingredients

Gather the ingredients together.

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2) Preparing Nagaimo

Store-bought Nagaimo is usually covered with sawdust, which controls the moisture and prevents it from rotting.

When preparing the Nagaimo, rinse off the sawdust with tap water and wipe it dry with a paper towel.

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3) Grating the Nagaimo

Cut off a small portion of the edge of Nagaimo.

Grate the peeled part of the Nagaimo with a grater to make Tororo.

Note: Prepare more than you need because peeled Nagaimo is slimy and slippery. It is better to leave part of the skin on so that you can hold it tightly while grating.

adding the soba noodles to boiling water

boiling the soba noodles until fully cooked

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4) Boiling the Soba Noodles

Prepare a large pot and pour in enough water. Heat it over medium to high heat.

Once the water boils, add the Soba noodles, separating them as much as possible. Stir with cooking chopsticks to prevent the noodles from sticking together. Boil them for the number of minutes indicated on the package.

rinsing the soba noodles under cold water

draining all of the excess water from the soba noodles

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5) Draining & Rinsing the Soba Noodles

Once the soba noodles are cooked, drain the water using a strainer and cool the noodles under tap water until they become cool.

Shake the strainer to drain the excess water.

adding the tororo nagaimo on top of the soba

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6) Arranging Tororo Soba

Place the Soba noodles in a bowl. Add the Tororo and the egg yolk on top.

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7) Serving Tororo Soba

Sprinkle the chopped green onion and drizzle Mentsuyu sauce over the noodles.

Finish with a dash of Japanese Shichimi pepper if you prefer. Enjoy!

About the author

Megumi Moriya

Megumi is a recipe writer based in Chiba, Japan. She carries a Bachelor in the Faculty of Foreign Studies and is interested in creating content about Japanese cuisine and traditional confectioneries. Megumi is most interested in making Japanese recipe content, and in her free time, she likes to play the piano, make handcrafted goods, and hula dance. She hopes to inspire Japanese Taste readers to make Japanese recipes at home and of course share more about Japanese culture.

View articles by Megumi Moriya