yakisoba

I never had yakisoba in Japan, but lately I've been wanting to make some at home. It's nothing more than Japanese street food, strongly influenced by Chinese stir-fry noodle dishes. I couldn't really find any one definitive yakisoba recipe and the only thing that was common between all of them were stir-fried noodles. The rest is up to your interpretation and tastes. Certain things did come up over and over again though. Sesame oil adds great flavor. Worcestershire sauce (particularly Japanese Bull-Dog brand) is a common ingredient, green onions are very standard - as is cabbage. The protein is usually pork or chicken. And so on... Based on the variety of recipes I found, and having never tried yakisoba in Japan, I didn't have much to go one, and had to wing it - especially regarding the sauce. What was clear to me however, is that this should be Japanese stir fry, not Chinese stir fry - so I stayed away from Oyster sauce and Hoisin sauce for example. I also didn't have cabbage (but I did have broccoli) and regular American Worcestershire sauce seemed good enough.

So the final list of ingredients reads like this:

Sauce: mirin, soy, chili/garlic (rooster) sauce, Worcestershire, sake, sesame oil, and water (dashi broth would have been ideal),

Noodles: yakisoba noodles (similar to ramen, not buckwheat soba noodles)

Others: Firm stir fried tofu, carrots, ginger, broccoli, green onion.

I cooked the tofu first, making sure it was nice and crispy. then stir fried the vegies and noodles (which were pre-cooked) with the sauce. Last, I added the tofu back in and plated it up.

Verdict: Very Delicious! and pretty Japanese tasting if I may say so myself, which was really my goal here. Two thumbs up!