🇺🇸 United States · Hawaii
SaiminHawaiian noodle soup
Hawaii's noodle soup: soft wheat egg noodles in a light dashi or shrimp broth topped with kamaboko, char siu pork, green onion and often egg or Spam.
Origin and history
Saimin is the noodle soup of Hawaii. It grew out of the sugar plantation camps of the late 1800s and early 1900s, where Chinese, Japanese, Okinawan, Portuguese, Filipino and Korean workers cooked and ate together. The name is thought to come from Cantonese, and the noodle has roots in Cantonese mein and Japanese ramen, while the clear, kombu-based broth is distinctly local. Hamura Saimin Stand on Kauai, which opened in the early 1950s, was named a James Beard Foundation America's Classic in 2006.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 50 min
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 2 l8 cups water, for the broth
- 10 g1 piece (4 x 4 in) kombu (dried kelp), wiped, not washed
- 15 g1/4 cup small dried shrimp, optional but typical of the local broth
- 15 g1 cup loosely packed katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
- 3 tbsp soy sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt, to taste
- 450 g1 lb fresh saimin noodles, or fresh thin wheat noodles, ramen or Chinese egg noodles
- 8 slices kamaboko (fish cake), thin, pink and white
- 225 g8 oz char siu (roast pork), sliced thin
- 4 eggs, hard-boiled, halved
- 4 green onions, sliced thin
- 1 tbsp Chinese hot mustard, mixed with soy sauce at the table
- soy sauce, for the dipping dish
Method
-
1. Put the water, kombu and dried shrimp in a pot and heat slowly over medium-low. Take out the kombu just before the water reaches a full simmer.
-
2. Add the bonito flakes, simmer gently for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and steep for 5 minutes more.
-
3. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pot, discarding the solids.
-
4. Stir in the soy sauce, sugar and salt, taste, and keep the broth hot over very low heat. It should be light and clear.
-
5. Bring a separate large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles for 1-2 minutes, until just tender, stirring to loosen them. Drain.
-
6. Divide the noodles among 4 deep bowls and ladle the hot broth over them.
-
7. Top each bowl with kamaboko, char siu, egg and green onions.
-
8. Serve at once with small dishes of hot mustard and soy sauce for dipping the pork and fish cake.
Notes
- Saimin noodles are soft, springy and wavy, between Japanese ramen and Chinese egg noodles. Good fresh ramen noodles are the closest substitute outside Hawaii.
- The broth is much lighter and clearer than ramen broth, based on dashi or shrimp. Quantities here follow a dashi-and-shrimp broth published by a Hawaii food guide (8 cups of water to 1 lb of noodles); another recipe uses about 1.5 litres for 500 g of noodles.
- Common toppings are kamaboko, char siu and green onions; stands also add egg, nori, Spam or wontons (wun tun min). Spam can stand in for the char siu.
- Mustard and soy sauce are mixed in a small dish for dipping the meat and fish cake.
- Fried saimin, made without soup, is a separate dish.
Adapted from Life and Thyme, A Study of Saimin, PBS Hawaii, Saimin Is Hawaii's Soul in a Bowl, Flux Hawaii, Why Saimin Is Hawaii's Favorite Comfort Food, and Hawaii Guide, Saimin recipe.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.