yakisoba (japanese-style fried noodle)

Beef Yakisoba

Yakisoba is one of my childhood favorites. My family used to make this on an electric hot plate/grill on Saturday mornings. It's very simple to make and you can put in pretty much anything you want. It's the sauce that makes it so good. My dad doesn't really cook, but he can make yakisoba (well, he was pretty good at tossing the noodle). 

Ingredients: 

Yakisoba noodle or yellow Taiwanese noodle or Spaghetti - 1 lbs (or 500g)

Cabbage - 1/2 med (chopped)
Bean sprout - 1/2 packet
Carrots - 2 med (julienne)
Onion - 1/2 med (sliced thinly)
Kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) - 1/2 cup (julienne)
Thin slice Meat (beef or pork) - 1/2 lbs

[Meat marinade]
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Salt & pepper - pinch
Sugar - 1 tsp

Yakisoba sauce  or tonkatsu sauce or chuo sauce -as much as you want (you decide how much)
**see TIPS

Prep:

1. Chop cabbage into 2-inch cubes. Wash and drain. Wash bean sprout and drain.
2. Cut carrots, onion and kamaboko in thin slices. 
3. Cut (if it's not already thin sliced) meat into thin slices. Marinade and set it aside for 10 min.
4. Prepare noodle - cook spaghetti or boil yakisoba/Taiwanese noodles for 2-3 minutes. Drain. 

Cook:

1. In a wok (or electric grill pan), heat 2 TBS of oil. Fry onion and carrots until fragrant, about 2 min.
2. Add in marinated meat. Fry for another 3 minutes.  Add in cabbage and bean sprout and fry for 2 minutes (or until cabbage is somewhat soft).
3. Add in noodle. Keep tossing noodles so meat & veggies will be integrated. Add in sauce - try 1/4 cup first. Then add more if you want. You can also add salt & pepper if you prefer less 'saucy'. 

Serve:

1. It's one-dish wonder! Meat, veggies and noodle in one. 
2. In Hiroshima prefecture in Japan, they are famous for okonomiyaki with yakisoba at the bottom. Just follow the recipe for okonomiyaki on this blog and add cooked yakisoba at the bottom when you flip the pancake to the other side.
3. Serve with picked ginger. 

Pork Yakisoba

TIPS

• The sauce is made from vegetable & fruits. It's sweet, yet tangy. Yakisoba sauce is the sweetest of all three sauces, whereas Chuno sauce is more tangy. Yakisoba and Tonkatsu sauce have similar consistency (somewhat thick), but Chuno sauce is more liquid.  Try al three and pick your choice - or you can mix and match (we used Tonkatsu and chuno sauce). 
• Some people like a lot of sauce. But if you are not that sort, you can cook the noodle with salt and pepper to taste, and have sauce on the side!