All Things Japanese - Yakisoba (fried noodle dish)

Hey guys ^^) - have you found yourself wondering what you can cook up for dinner tonight, or tomorrow - or at midnight when you need a snack to just- keep- animating-! (that last one's not health check supported, ok? Especially if its all chocolate bunnies and cookies&cream ice-cream like me. So don't go cooking up really late at night - your arteries will clog up, die, rise up and Haunt you. Or you'll end up getting a sugar addiction and become too sweet for your own good... hahahahahaha : D)

Well - if you have, which is likely, I introduce... Yakisoba, a very very yummy dish:

YAKISOBA
by google images

Ok, so!  "Yakisoba" -  translates, according to my host mums, as literally "baked noodles". "yaki" reffering to the baking process and "soba" referring to the noodles. As you are probably aware, 'soba' is a style of noodles that are long, skinny (tradionally a mottled grey)and well associated with Japan.

chopping up sheets of soba noodles, image courtesy of this website on cuisine and restaurants 

Plain soba noodles are yummy-ish, if drowned in a lot of good sauce and eaten with chopped up shallots. The sauce is served hot in Winter and Cold in Summer. They also serve it at midnight on New Year's Day and it's good manners (like having a housewarming) to deliver "moving in soba" to new neighbours.There's probably a few other places its expected to show up, it's just that sort of ingrained culturally traditional meal that's survived the passing of time.

"moving in soba" - is hilariously alluded to "Angel Densetsu" a manga by the same author who brought us 'Claymore'. Angel Densetsu is one of her earliest, if not the earliest, published works by Yagi, Norihiro. It's available free on Mangareader.net - the link to the series here and the chapter specific right here.

 My first couple of nights in Japan included being introduced to home-made soba, and both the sauces. It was a little difficult to enjoy the first time to be honest. 

How to eat Soba from ChefTaro - who knows how to eat all sorts of Japanese dishes, and likes sharing his knowledge in fun, cartoon guides *^^*

It's not like in a stir-fry, all slightly baked and seasoned; eaten between bites of veggies...mmm...really could do with some stir-fry right now. But that's not..really... relevant... *gazes off into the distance*

Here's the minimalistic, traditional way of serving it, from the menu of a soba restaurant written about in this guys blog:
Draining on a sliced bamboo matt, the noodles are eaten with chopsticks

Traditional Soba, served in a restaurant. Image courtesy of the blog (see previous para)

The two small, shallow bowls are chopped shallots and garlic (to add to the sauce).
The green liquid is tea. The dark liquid is the sauce.
As you can imagine, dipping the noodles into that small cup and slurping them up after, creates quite a mess. Don't wear white, ok?

Soba noodles. Google images

Yakisoba noodles (the noodles used specifically for this dish) are not this kind of soba. In Australian supermarkets, they can be found in airless-sealed plastic packets; labelled "Hokkien Noodles".

Google images

Yakisoba recipes, apart from their base of noodles, usually vary wildly on the additional veggies. The traditional, and delicious whiel remaining simple version is: Hokkien noodles, baked in a frypan with oil; chopped up cabbage, tossed in with the noodles, sliced up carrot, sliced up onion, and fried up pork strips. Very quick and easy to make and eat. When you buy it from a shop however, it will normally also be served with pink crunchy pickled radish, with a sharp sour taste distinctive to pickles.

This great Yakisoba recipe can be found here:
This recipe, adapted to a more western-style taste-pallet, may appeal to to you more than cabbage, carrot and pork. Here they have shown how to include chicken, prawns, sesame seeds and egg.

Yaki soba noodles

Photography by Ben Dearnley

Use your noodle and make dinner quick and easy tonight!

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 250g dried soba or ramen noodles (see note)
• 100ml reduced-salt soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 150g green prawns, peeled, deveined, chopped
• 1 cup beansprouts
• 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
• 1 carrot, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced diagonally
• 1/2 red capsicum, thinly sliced
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Method

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over high heat. Add noodles. Cook, uncovered, for 3 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Rinse under warm water. Set aside to drain.
2. Combine soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil in a microwave-safe jug. Microwave on high (100%) for 1 minute or until hot. Stir and set aside.
3. Heat peanut oil in a wok over high heat. Add prawns and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until prawns change colour. Add beansprouts, chicken, carrot, green onions, capsicum and soy mixture. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add noodles and toss to combine.
4. Pour egg over noodles. Cook, tossing gently, for 1 to 2 minutes or until egg just sets. Divide noodles between bowls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve.

Notes

• Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and wheat flour and are dark brown/grey. You can find them in the Asian section of the supermarket.
• Keep warm this winter with our selection of casseroles, slow cooker recipes, soup recipes and pasta bakes.