Tasty veggie udon noodles

udon_noodle_stir_fry.md

Udon Noodle Stir-Fry

(Makes 4-5 servings)

Ingredients

Noodles

• 1/2 lb Mushrooms (The larger grocery container)
• Fresh Udon noodles (Not dried, See Sourcing)
• 3 Tbs Roughly chopped peanuts (optional)
• 1/2 lb Red Cabbage (little less than half a cabbage)
• 1-2 Tbs Olive oil

Sauce

• 1-2 Tbs Sambal Oelek (See Sourcing)
• 2 Tbs Vegetable/Chicken demi-glace (See Sourcing)
• 1 Tbs Maple Syrup
• 1 Tbs Tamari or Soy sauce
• 1 Tbs White miso (See Sourcing)
• 1 Tbs Mirin (See Sourcing)
• 1/2 C Water

Saute´ Aromatics

• 3 green onions (You can sub any onion or shallots here)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 chunk of ginger mashed/cut very small (size of the clove)
• 1/2 Tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 Tbs oil (I tend to use olive oil but have used sunflower, canola, grapeseed it doesn't really matter)

Eggs

• 4 eggs (1 per serving)
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/3 c water

Step-by-step

1. So this recipe is divided into two parts the prep for this can be done the morning before, the actually cooking requires a bit of urgency but only takes 15-20 minutes start to finish.

2. Get a small bowl to marinade the Saute´ Aromatics. Cut the Green Onions, Discard the last centimeter or so of the root ends and any gross parts of the green ends. Cut into thin slices. Add it all to the bowl. Prep the Garlic and the Ginger (If you have a garlic press I tend to just throw both the clove and the ginger in that for speed and use a knife to scrape the ginger as it comes out so its not too fiberous) and add it to the bowl. Add the Rice vinegar, Sesame oil, and Olive Oil. Stir once and let it sit while you prep the other stuff.

3. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices and shred the cabbage into long thin slices, they get added at different times so set them aside in two separate containers.

4. Chop the peanuts (or when i'm lazy I just put them in a plastic bag and hit them with something heavy a couple times)

5. Prep the sauce, add the Demi-glace, Maple Syrup, Soy sauce, White miso, and Mirin into a bowl with the 1/2 C of water and whisk. Depending on how much heat you like add 1-2 Tbs of the Sambal Oelek (more than that and it drowns out the other flavors). Whisk some more, the Demi-glace won't really mix properly but that's fine it'll melt in the pan.

6. From here on out the recipe picks up and the only real pause point is after the vegetables are cooked.

7. Heat up a large non-stick pan (Medium high to high). Once its hot add the Olive Oil and coat, add the mushrooms and salt and pepper a little. Cook for 4-5 minutes.

8. Make a space in the middle of the mushrooms and add the Saute´ Aromatics let it heat up for 30 seconds or so then mix it together with the mushrooms.

9. Add the Cabbage to the pan and save the container, (it'll look like alot) and mix it all together. Salt and pepper a little. Cook, stiring frequently for 3-4 minutes (or until the purple cabbage starts to lose its color a little). You can overcook a little here with out much consequence. Transfer all of it into the container you had the cabbage in.

10. Separate the Udon Noodles and add them into the same pan, add the Sauce and stir until the noodle's are fully coated (2-3 minutes). Add them and any remaining sauce in with the veggies, and take the pan off the heat.

11. Get your 1/3 C of Water ready, a lid or tinfoil for the pan, and a plate with a paper towel on it. Put the pan back on the heat (leave the brown bits), once its hot add 1 Tbs of olive oil and add the eggs. When there are no transparent parts of the eggs add the water directly to the pan. Put the lid on and set a timer for 1 1/2 minutes. They need to come out when the timer goes off.

12. Remove the lid and get those eggs out of the pan and on to the plate with the paper towel (its for the watery oil). Pepper both the eggs.

13. And you're done! Serve the noodles in a bowl with the egg on top and sprinkle with the peanuts.

Reheating

It keeps well, don't be alarmed that its purple haha. The cabbage leeches its pigment into the mushrooms and noodles in the fridge. It's still tasty for 3-4 days.

1. Cook an egg per serving as above
2. Microwave the noodles and veggies for a minute-ish
3. You're good :)

Sourcing

Fresh Udon noodles

The quality of these makes a big difference. Dried is straight up terrible. You're best bet is an asian grocery store and the brands you want to look for (in order of preference) are:

• Twin Marquis
• Shirakiku
• Jang Foods

It should look like this

Sambal Oelek

Super dope ingredient, you can find it in most grocery stores international aisle, looks like this. You can use it a substitute for Siracha (Siracha is sweeter and fruiter, Sambal Oelek is tangier and tarter)

Vegetable/Chicken demi-glace

Its basically stock reduced to the point of solidifying, you can make it if you want to spend the 8 hours, was a pain in the ass to track down, have seen it in grocery stores but very rarely, would recommend just ordering it from amazon, it's shelf life is like 8-12 months unrefrigerated. You can throw it into basically anything that takes a stock.

This is the one I order

White miso

White's a bit of misnomer, you can find this near the soy sauce in pretty much every grocery store now, would recommend getting one with a top rather than a bag. Needs to be refrigerated, shelf-life 3-monthish

Mirin

Basically rice sherry, should be near the soy sauce, its alcoholic and I haven't had one that's gone bad on me unrefrigerated. Haven't found one that makes a huge difference in the taste but same as with cooking sherry, avoid any that are sweetened.