Cook's Notes: When buying dried soba at Asian or health food stores, you may or may not be able to figure out the percentage of buckwheat to wheat flour from the package label. Sometimes the labels are only in Japanese, sometimes they just don't say. Unless you know a good Japanese grocery store, the best bet for high-quality 80 percent buckwheat soba (hachiwari soba) is to mail order it (see Resources below).
The following recipe is a Sichuan classic and one of my personal favorites. More than any other dish, for me it sums up the luxuriant pleasures of Sichuan eating: the warmth of its colors and tastes, the rich subtlety of its complex flavors.
This rasam brings back memories of being a young boy in Nagpur, a small city in the western state of Maharashtra where my family lived for about three years. My dad's boss there was South Indian, and I was introduced to the exotic smells and tastes of southern Indian cooking in his home. Every time we went there for dinner, his wife would meet us with glasses of this rasam. It took only a very short time for me and my family to become enchanted by these wonderful tastes.
A fruity Spanish olive oil, preferably from Andalusia, is important, as is a good sherry vinegar, preferably aged. Both can be found at specialty groceries or mail-ordered. If you can spare the time, garnish the gazpacho with tiny bread croutons fried in olive oil.
Ingredients
The version below features a slightly abridged but still authentic roster of meats. Most of them can be found at a good Hispanic butcher shop, though a German or Polish butcher is also a good bet for smoked meats. If you can't find dried beef or beef jerky, sue corned beef, soaked in cold water for 2 hours and drained. I include a kale recipe but omit the farofa since mandioc meal is too difficult to find in this country.
A far cry from the usual sour-cream-and-dill cucumber soup and a welcome change in midsummer, this soup may be prepared a day or two in advance, and can be made more substantial by adding about a cup of cold cooked crabmeat or shrimp at the last minute.
The tropical fruit flavor of California and Washington State Sauvignon Blancs complements the coconut and curry flavors of the soup perfectly!
Ingredients
Instructions