Friday, December 20, 2013

easy yaki udon

Since I ate the yaki udon at our favourite Japanese restaurant, I have been trying to re-create that same taste. I still have not been able to cook this dish in the same way but along the way, I have also cooked quite a few versions of yaki udon.


This version, using Mentsuyu, is a lighter version of yaki udon. It is really simple to cook.

Keeping it simple, I used only a few ingredients. Like the Chinese fried noodles, you can choose to add any ingredients you like, and more often than not, I simply look in my fridge to see what I had, or what I wanted to use up and use those ingredients to cook yaki udon.

Here, I used a green capsicum, a small onion, sliced pork and cai xin.





I started by blanching the udon in a pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes. The udon was then drained and set aside,


I seasoned the pork with a little light soy sauce, a little mirin as well as sake. I also heated a skillet and added some vegetable. Once the oil was hot, I cooked the pork until they had turned slightly brown.




I removed the pork slices and set them aside. In the same skillet, I heated a little more oil.

Into this, I added onions and capsicum, and I stir fried them until they had softened.


I added the cai xin and cooked until the vegetables had wilted.


I seasoned with salt and pepper. Then I returned the pork into the skillet.



I also added the udon as well as the mentsuyu.



Then I gave everything a stir, added a little water, and covered the skillet for about 2-3 minutes to finish cooking. If you like the yaki udon to have more sauce, then add more water and thicken with a corn starch slurry at the end.



When the dish was done, I garnished it with shredded seaweed and kotsuobushi.


RECIPE
Easy Yaki Udon (Serves 4)

Ingredients:
3 packets udon
500g lean pork, sliced and seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon each of light soy, mirin and sake
1/2 bunch cai xin, washed and cut
1 small green capsicum, seeds removed and sliced thinly
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons Mentsuyu (or more, to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 cup water
Shredded seaweed and katsuobushi, to garnish

Method:
1. Blanch udon in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and set aside.
2. Heat oil in skillet. Cook pork until pork has turned slightly brown. Set aside.
3. In the same skillet, add a little more oil. Cook onion and capsicum until softened, then add cai xin and cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Return pork into skillet. Add udon and Mentsuyu. Stir to mix, add water, cover skillet for about 3 minutes to finish cooking.
5. Garnish with seaweed and katsuobushi and serve immediately.


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