This recipe comes from Hiroko Shimbo’s The Japanese Kitchen, published by The Harvard Common Press in 2000. Shimbo is a well-known and widely admired authority on Japanese cuisine  For more info about her  and her cookbooks, visit http://www.hirokoskitchen.com.

Ingredients (4-6 servings)

14 oz dried soba
7 oz bunch of spinach
2 oz (about ¼) red bell pepper, julienned
2 abura-age (fried thin tofu) sheets
¼ cup sake
¼ cup mirin (sweet cooking wine)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 nori sheets, toasted
Condiments
Noodle base
Wasabi
¼ cup scallion rings, green part only (or green onion)

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring 4-6  quarts of water to a boil. Cook noodles al dente, 4-6 minutes or as instructed on the package. Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse them under cold running water, rubbing them between your hands until they are cold and no longer starchy on the outside. Drain the noodles well.
2. In a medium pot, cook the spinach in salted boiling water for 1 minute. Remove the spinach with chopsticks and cool it under cold running water. Squeeze tightly to remove excess water in a bamboo rolling mat and cut off the roots.
3. Put the red bell pepper into a fine-meshed strainer that will fit into the pot of boiling water. Blanch the red bell pepper for 20 seconds.  Remove the pepper and cool it under cold running water.
4. In the same pot of boiling water, blanch the abura-age for 20 seconds, turning it over once. Drain the abura-age and cool it under cold running water. Cut the abura-age in half lengthwise and then into thin strips crosswise.
5. In a small saucepan, combine the abura-age, sake and mirin.  Add enough water to cover the abura-age. Bring the mixture to a boil, add the sugar, cover the pan with a drop lid and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add the soy sauce and cook until almost all the liquid is absorbed.
6. Place a bamboo rolling mat on a counter. Lay one nori sheet on it shiny side down, aligning the short edge of the nori with the short edge of the mat directly in front of you. Cover the nori with ¼ of the noodles, leaving 1 inch uncovered at the far end for sealing the roll. Evenly distribute the spinach in a thin strip across the center of the noodles. Place the bell pepper on top of the spinach and the abura-age on top of the pepper.  With the aid of the bamboo mat, gently roll up the sushi.
6. Make three more rolls the same way. Cut each roll into eight disks. Serve the sushi with individual small bowls of noodle-dipping sauce, wasabi and scallions.  The wasabi and scallions are mixed into the dipping sauce in the quantity desired.