I seem to be on a Japanese food kick this winter—curry rice, udon, sekihan for the New Year. This is my comfort food, and I’ve nearly exhausted the category, but I can’t move along until I tell you how much I love yakisoba.
Have you heard of yakisoba? They’re grilled noodles, though not the soba noodles you might think of from the name. Yakisoba is made with a fresh ramen-like noodle, sautéed with vegetables and meat in a special sauce. It’s standard lunch or dinner fare in Japan, available in most deli sections, at restaurants, and often made at home.
When I was six and my brother was four, we spent a few weeks staying with family friends in Japan who ran a yakisoba restaurant and lived next door. Customers entered and sat around a large communal table that was covered with a metal grill surface. The ingredients for each order were put on the grill and cooked before the customer, then pushed to where they were sitting so they could eat. I’m not sure if this early experience sealed the deal, but to this day I love yakisoba.
Now when I make yakisoba, I buy the noodles and sauce at the Asian grocery store. I like the Maruchan brand, which comes conveniently packaged in single serving sizes). You add your own vegetables—traditionally onion, carrot, cabbage, and green pepper, though I hate green peppers and skip them. For meat I prefer beef, though you could probably do okay with pork or chicken. If you want to make it vegetarian, just add some shiitake mushrooms cut in strips. I will steer you away from the packets of yakisoba noodles that are shio (salt) flavored, as the traditional yakisoba sauce is much, much better.
Beyond that, it’s a simple stir-fry of vegetables and noodles. The one unusual thing that I do is to cut the carrots with a mandoline, so that they are noodle-sized matchsticks that work with the slivered onion and shredded cabbage. It all comes together to make a fantastically easy and delicious dish that can be on the table in minutes.
I was recently talking with a Japanese friend about how no one actually makes any of these dishes from scratch anymore. There was a day when people made their own yakisoba sauce, I imagine. Now it’s a lot of packages and powders, though the vegetables are added fresh and the whole thing is cooked to order. It makes me want to figure out how to make these things from raw ingredients, though my Japanese friends would laugh at me. Why bother, when it’s so easy to buy the packets?
And it is easy, and fast, and convenient—and there are days when I can’t argue with that. This week I’m back at the desk, trying to catch up with email and business after the long holiday. It’s weeks like this that I keep a few packages of yakisoba tucked away in the freezer. I always have onions, carrots, and cabbage on hand, and some frozen beef from my favorite Skagit River Ranch. In fifteen minutes or less, I can have piping hot yakisoba for lunch. This week, I am not complaining.
You can also freeze any leftovers of the cooked noodles and vegetables and they defrost and reheat easy and well. How’s that for fast and convenient?
YAKISOBA: Japanese grilled noodles
Serves one, multiply as needed
Prepared yakisoba noodles and sauce packet, available in Japanese/Asian markets
1/2 cup onion, slivered
1/2 cup carrot, cut into matchsticks with a mandoline or knife
1/2 cup green pepper (optional, I hate them)
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup thinly sliced beef (or pork, or chicken, or shiitake mushrooms—fresh or dried)
oil for sautéing vegetables
Beni-shoga, pickled red ginger
The above measurements are standard, though I often increase the vegetables to 3/4 cup each, in order to make it more nutritional. Play around and see what works for you.
Heat the oil in work or large pan. Add the onions, carrot, and meat and sauté for 7 minutes over medium high heat, until the vegetables begin to get limp and the meat looks fairly cooked. Add the shredded cabbage and mushrooms (if using fresh mushrooms—see note at bottom) and continue cooking another 3-5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and put the vegetables/meat in a large, heat-proof bowl. Make sure to scrape out all the bits from the pan or wok.
Add the noodles and 1/4 cup of water to the now empty pan. Return to heat and as the noodles begin to heat up, turn them and carefully begin to loosen them up until they no longer look like a block of noodles (see above). Add the flavor packet and stir until incorporated. You may want to add a bit more water if the noodles begin to dry out. Add the vegetables and meat and stir to mix and heat through. Serve hot with pickled red ginger.
NOTE: I personally don’t think this dish is worth eating without the pickled red ginger, called beni-shoga (shoga means ginger, and beni is the same prefix used in the Japanese word for lipstick, leading me to call this lipstick ginger, it’s bright red!). I add a huge amount, because I love it. You should let your tastebuds guide you. I’m afraid that I tore the label on the last bottle I bought, so you can’t see the whole thing, but any brand of bright red, matchstick cut pickled ginger will be fine.
Twitter
Flickr
RSS
oh yum! definitely trying this soon. love all the recent posts.
Mmmm… I do like a good yakisoba. And udon, though my mother never made any, because she has an unreasonable fear of the noodles (childhood trauma, not worth writing about.)
I also like kimpira (matchstick veggies -usually gobo and carrots-sautéed with chilly sesame oil), I usually ask my Mum to make it for me when I go over to my parents for dinner, because I don't usually stock gobo in my fridge.
I think I will try to makes some for dinner tonight…
This dish does sound like comfort food…and a perfect excuse to head to the Japanese market to get some of that pickled red ginger!
you have me hooked on zaru soba, and now i think i'm going to be hooked on this yakisoba! mrmmmmm.
i didn't realize you hated green peppers–i hate bell peppers–so much so, that i'll leave them out of the Louisiana "holy trinity" when I make etouffee. thank you for sharing!!
You're dam right about the red ginger. Add it in and then its a meal.
Which mandoline are you using to get these perfectly sized carrots? I make a lot of kinpira and the cutting does take time, would a mandoline be of help, I wonder.
Oh I love yakisoba but no matter what ingredients I buy at the Asian grocery stores, it's never as tasty as the yakisoba I ate while living in japan for 2 years! Lovely post – I'm now craving yakisoba!!!
I loved the color of this dish and it sounds great. The texture of the noodles look good too. promising
I wish you had a photo, or brand name, of the noodles you buy. I have close to zero experience with Asian cuisine. Also, the colors of the condiments usually scare me… It's like no other foods that I know.
As for packets… it reminded me of my high school years when whipped cream was a powder in a packet.
Oh man, this looks SO good and perfect for dinner tonight! But — how can I wait that long?!
Andrea–thanks!
Dahlia–your kimpira sounds delicious! I might have to make that.
Mrs L–the red pickled ginger is my favorite:-)
Dave–yes indeed, wouldn't bother without it.
Uli–I have an expensive mandoline but never use it. The one I use the most is a $10 mandoline I got from the Progressive series:
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-HG-51-Multi-Slicer/dp/product-description/B00004RDD4
Nurit–I linked to a photo of the brand I buy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12292140@N02/4248704468/in/photostream. Give it a try, it's the good (yummy) kind of food packets:-)
Nicole–go for it! I've never done mushrooms, but I think I might like it better (especially the dried shiitake that are soaked and a little chewy). Next batch that's what I'm going to do.
Never had this, but I really want to!
Your photos make me want to run right out and get some of those ingredients! My mouth is literally watering.
Mmmmm yummy!
Can't wait to see what you make for the CanJam!
I love when you post asian-inspired meals. I rarely make asian food at home because the list of ingredients seems so daunting, but you present them so easily! Thanks for inspiring me.
Look at that pink ginger! First you inform me that I can get Kika's treat at Rainbow, and now I'm learning about pink lipstick ginger
Good stuff…my girlfriend and I keep joking we're going to have to eat ramen all year to afford our SF rent, so maybe we'll upgrade on special occasions to yakisoba. Thanks, tea.
I've never tried yakisoba before will definitely give a go shouldn't be too dificult either which is good.
Thanks for the post. We have a great Asian market here in Seattle and fresh noodles are never a problem. Had all the ingredients but was looking for confirmation on proper steps. Your post was spot on, thanks. As the rain settles in tonight here in the Cascades, we'll raise our chopsticks to you as we enjoy our Pork Yakisoba.
I usually buy mine dried at the local asian grocery, but they're usually brown, or green if they're the green-tea type, but I've never seen orange-y brown soba noodles before. Maybe the drying process does something to the colour, or is it the sauce you used? I haven't found any fresh soba noodles in stores yet (I live in Australia) but your recipe sounds delicious! I'm assuming that it will work the same with dried noodles. I can't wait to try it!
Michelle–you want to make sure not to make this with soba noodles–which are made of buckwheat. The dish, yakisoba, is actually made from ramen noodles (fresh or frozen, not the dehydrated kind you find in cup of noodle). If you made this with buckwheat noodles, I'm not sure you would like it.
Hope that clarifies—write back with any further questions you may have.