, ''somyeon'' ( ko, 소면; 素麵), or ''sùmiàn'' () is a very thin

noodle Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, ...

made of

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''brea ...

, less than 1.3 mm in diameter. The noodles are used extensively in East Asian cuisines. Japanese ''sōmen'' is made by stretching the dough with vegetable oil, forming thin strands that are then air dried for later use. This is distinct from a similar thin noodle, ''

hiyamugi Hiyamugi ( ja, 冷麦, lit=chilled wheat) are very thin dried Japanese noodles made of wheat. They are similar to but slightly thicker than the thinnest Japanese noodle type called '' sōmen''. The Western style noodle that most closely resemble ...

'', which is knife-cut. In Japan, ''sōmen'' is usually served cold with a light dipping sauce called ''tsuyu''. South Korean ''somyeon'' may be eaten in hot or cold noodle soups. ''Sōmen'' is typically high in

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...

. Other names are ''nyūmen'' (煮麺) in Japanese, for a version served warm in soup, and the Chinese name ''guàmiàn'' (), which can be further classified into ''lóngxū'' () for the variant with long and thin strands and ''fèngwei'' () for the variant with flat and broad strands.

East Asian cuisines

Japan

Sōmen are usually served cold with a light flavored dipping sauceHiking in Japan - Richard Ryall, Craig McLachlan, David Joll
p. 177. or ''tsuyu''. The tsuyu is usually a ''

katsuobushi is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'', sometimes referred to as bonito). It is also known as bonito flakes. ''Katsuobushi'' or similarly prepared fish is also known as . Shaved ''katsuobushi'' and dried ...

''-based sauce that can be flavored with Japanese bunching onion,

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of ...

, or '' myoga''. In the summer, sōmen chilled with ice is a popular meal to help stay cool. Sōmen served in hot soup is usually called ''nyūmen'' and eaten in the winter, just like soba or

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...

are. Some restaurants offer ''nagashi-sōmen'' (流しそうめん flowing noodles) in the summer. The noodles are placed in a long

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

across the length of the restaurant. The flume carries clear, ice-cold water. As the sōmen pass by, diners pluck them out with their chopsticks and dip them in tsuyu. Catching the noodles requires a fair amount of dexterity, but the noodles that are not caught by the time they get to the end usually are not eaten, so diners are pressured to catch as much as they can. A few luxury establishments put their sōmen in real streams so that diners can enjoy their meal in a beautiful garden setting. Machines have been designed to simulate this experience at home. File:Simple somen.jpg, Sōmen (in large white bowl at upper-right) with assorted toppings File:Nagashi somen by tasteful tn.jpg, ''Nagashi-sōmen''

South Korea

In Korean cuisine, ''somyeon'' is used in hot and cold noodles soups such as '' janchi-guksu'' (banquet noodles) and '' kong-guksu'' (noodles in cold soybean soup), as well as soupless noodle dishes such as '' bibim-guksu'' (mixed noodles). It is often served with spicy '' anju'' (food that accompanies alcoholic drink) such as '' golbaengi-muchim'' (moon snail salad). File:Janchi-guksu.jpg, '' Janchi-guksu'' File:Korean noodles-Kongguksu-01.jpg, '' Kong-guksu'' File:Bibim-guksu.jpg, '' Bibim-guksu'' File:Golbaengi-muchim.jpg, '' Golbaengi-muchim'' served with boiled ''somyeon''

Gallery

File:Five-colour somyeon 1.jpg, Five-colour ''somyeon'' File:Somyeon.jpg, Boiled ''somyeon''

References

External links