A tasty Japanese dish, which is way more than the sum of its parts. It comes together in ten minutes, but you need to start the pickle two hours in  advance. It’s worth making more pickle than listed here as it keeps for a week in the fridge and can be used in salads and sandwiches. The egg whites can be frozen for meringues.

Cucumber pickle

1/3 cucumber, very finely sliced

50 mls cider vinegar

50 mls mirin

13g sugar

5g salt

5 dill stalks, whole

The noodles

Large knob of butter

2 portobello mushroom, finely chopped

3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp white miso

2 large egg yolks

1 tbsp chopped chives

2 x 150g ready cooked udon noodles

1 teasp toasted sesame seeds

To make the cucumber pickle: 

• In a bowl, combine the vinegar, mirin and sugar. Add 100mls of boiling water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the salt and the dill stalks and stir well. Pour over the cucumbers and stir. Allow to sit for 2 hours, then drain, removing the dill stalks

For the noodles: 

• Put a medium saucepan on a medium high heat. Once hot, add the butter, mushrooms and spring onions. Cook for 5 minutes until browned. Take the pan off the heat, set aside two tablespoons of the mushroom mix, then stir in the soy sauce, miso, egg yolk and chives.  Set aside and keep warm

• Drop the noodles into boiling water for 30 seconds, until the strands separate. Reserve two tablespoons of the boiling water and add to the mushroom mix. Drain the noodles, and add then as well. Mix well

•  Divide between two bowls, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with the pickle on the side