Yakisoba

03 October 2015

(Serves 4)

So this week my husband had requested Yakisoba for dinner as I haven’t made it in quite some time. This just gave me an opportunity to finally jot down another recipe as well as save me the trouble of deciding what to cook for dinner. Sometimes I just get into a food rut and have no idea what I want to make. I’m sure everyone has felt this way at some point or another right?

Yakisoba is basically the Japanese version of Mì Xào (Vietnamese Egg Noodle Stir-fry). I’m not saying that it’s a rip-off, but the concept is extremely similar. And being a lover of noodles, I have no problem adding another noodle recipe to my repertoire. Once all the ingredients are prepared, you can get this noodle dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes. When I was still working I would prep all the ingredients beforehand so I could just come home from work and make this quickly for dinner. Plus, there’s plenty leftover for lunch the next day!

When I first started making this dish I loosely followed the recipe from “basic Japanese cooking including sushi, sashimi and yakitori” by Jody Vassallo. I say loosely follow because I really do have a problem with executing a recipe exactly as written. This is also a big reason as to why it took me so long to start a blog since I never wanted to measure anything out. I was taught to cook to taste and that’s what I have always done, and still do (Unless, of course, it’s for my blog recipes, then I make sure to be exact with my measurements).

Since I was not familiar with the seasoning used to create the flavor of Yakisoba, I needed a point of reference and this book was useful in that perspective. My first go around I would usually stay pretty close to the recipe and just adjust the seasoning. But as the years have gone by since my first attempt at yakisoba I have gotten more comfortable with this dish and the recipe slowly morphed into what it is here. Bean sprout is a large component for a good yakisoba, but for some reason it’s hard to come by where I live, hence I usually have to leave it out. But please do add it at the end of the cooking process if you are able to get some. For reasons, like this, I’m sure a few years from now I will be posting a different version of a Yakisoba recipe as I always like to improve on my dishes and use readily available ingredients.

1 tsp olive oil	1. In a large pan, on medium high heat stir-fry the beef in olive oil for about 2 minutes and set aside.
6 oz beef, stripes
1 tbsp olive oil	2. In the same pan, on medium high heat, sauté the garlic and ginger for 1 minute.
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 oz ginger, grated
1 lb cabbage, shredded	3. Reduce to medium heat and toss in the cabbage, carrots, soy sauce and water and cook for about 4 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
1/2 carrot, shredded
2 tbsps water
3 tbsps ketchup
4 tbsps tonkatsu sauce
3 tbsps soy sauce, light
16 oz yakisoba noodles	4. Incorporate the noodles into the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.
2.5 oz fish cake, shredded	5. Remove pan from heat and mix the remaining ingredients until well combined. 6. Adjust to taste and serve with pickled ginger if desired.
1/4 cup scallion, chopped at an diagonal
3 eggs, scrambled
Sesame seeds