Yakisoba (Classic Japanese Stir Fry Noodles)

I particularly like Japanese street foods. How can I miss out on Yakisoba, "fried noodle", a Classic Japanese street food? I couldn't go to Japan and enjoy it as frequently as I like, so I tried to make it at home. It's very simple and easy.

To make this dish, I need to find Japanese noodles for stir-fry. It is not difficult to find several brands in any Asian grocers here in Australia. I have tried a few brands of noodles. They are easily broken apart during or even before stir-frying. But the taste is still good as long as you don’t mind the presentation is not ideal. It's like fried noodles in chopped sizes.

Yakisoba can be a quick meal or snack. It’s really simple and easy to make this fried noodle dish. I just used the staples and seasonings that are always kept in my kitchen. For convenience, I took a different route of using Len & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce in my fridge for making the sauce.

To get an authentic taste, buy Bull-Dog sauce from a Japanese store or Asian grocers. You need to adjust the amount of juice accordingly. The yakisoba sauce is sweet, and the amount of sugar in this recipe can be adjusted to suit your taste. This is the biggest advantage of making it at home yourself.

Look, this Japanese-style fried noodles dish are topped with Japanese-style red ginger and sprinkled with seaweed powder (seaweed powder). The taste is fantastic.

Yakisoba Recipe

(Printable recipe) By Christine’s Recipes
Course: Noodles
Cuisine: Asian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Yield: 2 to 3 serves

Ingredients:

• 2 package (about 300 gm) Yakisoba noodles
• 200 gm chicken breast (or sliced pork) roughly chopped
• ½ onion, julienned
• 1 carrot, julienned
• ½ broccoli head, florets trimmed
• 4 to 5 cabbage leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 to 4 fresh shiitake, sliced
• 1 to 2 spring onion, sectioned
• white pepper, to taste
• pickled red ginger, for garnish
• dried seaweed (Aonori), for garnish

Sauce:

• 3 tsp sugar
• 3 tsp light soy sauce
• 4 tsp ketchup
• 2 tsp oyster sauce
• 3½ Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tsp water

Method : 

1. Briefly cook the Yakisoba noodles in boiling water for 1 minute, until softened. Carefully separate the noodles with a pair of chopsticks while cooking. Drain up. Set aside.
2. Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain well. Wash in cold tap water to stop cooking and retain its green colour. Drain well again. Set aside.
3. Mix all the sauce ingredients. Set aside.
4. Heat oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken and pork. Stir fry until the colour is changed. Add the onion and carrot. Cook until softened. Toss in the broccoli and cabbage.
5. Push all ingredients to the sides of the wok. Add some oil in the middle. Saute minced ginger and garlic. Add the fresh shiitake. Stir to combine.
6. Add in the noodles. Pour in the sauce mixture. Stir to combine. Add spring onion. Sprinkle white pepper to taste. Done. Dish up. Garnish with some pickled red ginger and dried seaweed. Serve immediately.

Notes：

• You might like to use any other kind of meat, pork, chicken or seafood.
• Yakisoba noodles are available at Asian grocers.
• If you can’t find any Yakisoba noodles for some reason, you can use Hokkien noodles or other Chinese noodles instead. Blanch the noodles according to the instructions on the packaging and remove any excess oil.