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Tempura Udon - 天婦羅うどん

What Exactly is Tempura Udon - (天婦羅うどん)?

Tempura Udon (天ぷらうどん) is essentially what it says it is, which is a magnificent udon noodle soup topped with tempura.

It is a very popular Japanese noodle soup consisting of Udon, which is a chewy, thick noodle made from wheat, while the tempura can either be shrimp tempura or Kakiage tempura.

It is served in a rich umami soup that is very simple. The broth has some saltiness with a hint of sweetness that complements the tempura really well! Some say the color of the broth can tell a person which region it is from.

For example, if dark soy sauce is added, you can tell that this is from the Eastern part of Japan, while the light soy sauce suggests that this is from the Western part of Japan.

It is often topped with chopped scallions and fish cake.

Is There A History Behind Them?

In researching the history of tempura udon, it seems that their histories are separated and need to be discussed as such. Let's jump into the history of udon first.

Many different stories talk about when udon was first introduced to the world. However, I'll just mention three that I thought would be interesting to you.

There is one story that says in the year AD 1241, a Rinzai monk named Enni initiated the technology of flour milling from Song China to Japan. This new invention then allowed Japan to use their floured crops to make different kinds of noodles like soba and udon. They also were able to make pancakes! Could you believe that? All these newly found foods were consumed by the locals.

In the second story I'll share, they say that the original name for this noodle was not udon at all but was called Konton. 'Konton' was made with wheat flour and had sweet fillings.

There is another case where we are told that a man named Kūkai, who was a Buddhist priest in the Heian Era, introduced udon noodles to Shikoku. This Buddhist priest traveled to the Tang Dynasty in China to study in the 9th century.

With this background, the Sanuki Province has claimed that they were the first to adopt the first udon noodles from the Buddhist priest Kūkai while the Hakata province claims to produce the noodles from Enni's recipe.

These are just a handful, but there are many other stories as to how udon came about, but we are not 100% sure about its true beginning or discovery.

However, with tempura, we learn that in Japan they started to deep fry their food with a batter made with flour and eggs around the end of the 16th century.