Couple of weeks ago, I made this Japanese Yakisoba for lunch. Armed with a limited supply of ingredients in my pantry, I managed to whip up a rather decent meal for myself. Not too bad, right?
The proper name for this noodle dish is sōsu yakisoba (ソース焼きそば), literally means fried buckwheat, which is what soba noodles are made of.
I got mine from Meidi-Ya, Japanese supermarket. It comes in a pack of 3.
Since I the only type of protein available in my fridge was pork, I went ahead to use that. There’s no hard and fast rule on the type of protein that goes into the noodles. You could add in your favorite meat like chicken, beef, etc or even seafood (i.e. squid, prawns).
There are only 3 ingredients needed for this yakisoba sauce in the recipe – ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and oyster sauce.
And let me tell you, these 3 seasonings are the soul to making this dish shine. The use of Worcestershire sauce is rather essential (think of it as tangy fish sauce) as it adds the required depth of flavor. I’m using a Japanese brand (Bulldog), if you are unable to get your hands on it, feel free to substitute with other brands like Heinz or Lea Perrins.
Ingredients:
300 g Soba noodles / egg noodles – I’m using frozen soba noodles
½ cabbage – sliced into bite size
100 g sliced pork / chicken / beef – marinate with some salt and pepper for 5 mins
Vegetable oil
Yakisoba Sauce:
2 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
Garnish:
Fried egg
Bonito flakes
Mayonnaise
Aonori (Japanese green seaweed)
Beni Shoga (Japanese red pickled ginger)
Serves 2
The line up.
Add 3 tbsp oil into a large skillet or pan and fry the noodles approx. 1 min on each side on medium high heat until slightly brown and crisp. This will create a crispy chewy texture.
Remove from pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add in sliced pork and stir fry for 1 – 2 mins on high heat. It is OK to get some char on the meat.
Add in cabbage and continue to cook for another min.
Put in the noodles and drizzle over all the sauce.
Mix well until the sauce is coated evenly on the noodles.
Serve on a plate. Garnish with desired amount of bonito flakes, mayonnaise, seaweed and pickled ginger. Top with a fried egg and enjoy.
- 300 g Soba noodles / egg noodles – I’m using frozen soba noodles
- ½ cabbage – sliced into bite size
- 100 g sliced pork / chicken / beef – marinate with some salt and pepper for 5 mins
- Vegetable oil
- Yakisoba Sauce:
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- Garnish:
- Fried egg
- Bonito flakes
- Mayonnaise
- Aonori (Japanese green seaweed)
- Beni Shoga (Japanese red pickled ginger)
- Serves 2
- Add 3 tbsp oil into a large skillet or pan and fry the noodles approx. 1 min on each side on medium high heat until slightly brown and crisp. This will create a crispy chewy texture.
- Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add in sliced pork and stir fry for 1 – 2 mins on high heat. It is ok to get some char on the meat.
- Add in cabbage and continue to cook for another min.
- Put in the noodles and drizzle over all the sauce.
- Mix well until the sauce is coated evenly on the noodles.
- Serve on a plate. Garnish with desired amount of bonito flakes, mayonnaise, seaweed and pickled ginger. Top with a fried egg and enjoy.
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