Yakisoba (with a few variations)

It's been ages since my last post simply due to my consistently forgetting to take pictures. But, yesterday, a lovely friend (Rosie dearie I mean you!) reminded me and I actually took pictures. Enough picture, in fact, for a step by step recipe post.

Yesterday, I needed a quick recipe to make because I was running out of time to make supper. So I went flipping through my trusty recipe book "Let's Cook Japanese Food!" and landed on the recipe for Yakisoba and I remembered that we have some napa cabbage that was in dire need of being used.

I gathered everything for the meal, which isn't much: only half a head of cabbage, 1/2 a large carrot (or a whole small one), and 1/2 a yellow onion.

I chopped it all up as I thawed the pork chops. Technically the recipe in the book calls for 6 pieces of thick cut bacon, but as my family likes more meat in our dishes (and we normally don't have bacon on hand) I thaw a pork chop or two and slice them into thin pieces instead. Hey, bacon is pork after all, so it tastes the same.

So once the veggies were ready, I sliced the pork chops. I ended up only using 1 1/2 because one of them was gigantic. It was shoved back into the freezer for another day. Once sliced, I tossed the meat in a large frying pan (the key word here is large because this dish will overflow the pan if you don't use one that is big enough) with a tablespoon or two of oil.

While the pan started heating up, I pulled out two bundles (3.5 oz each dry) of soba noodles. This is only about half the noodles that the recipe calls for, but I know from cooking this before that 1) we don't need all those noodles and 2) they typically make the pan overflow. I used normal soba noodles, but yakisoba noodles are best.If you have neither, spaghetti noodles work great. But, soba noodles of some form are the best. So, I boiled the noodles until al dente and quickly drained them. You do NOT want soggy noodles. Trust me.

By the time the noodles are cooked, the pork was fairly well done so I tossed in the veggies. The recipe said to stir fry them for only around 2 minutes but I typically do it longer until I can see that the veggies are starting to soften (and that the pork is finally done).

The noodles came next and I stirred them well into the mixture. Then, I poured in the 1/4 cup water and covered it for the minute in the recipe and then stirred until the water boiled off.






The final step is the fun one where you season it to taste. I've never managed to find Yakisoba sauce which is ideal (if you have it, use 1-2 tablespoons). I typically substitute 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and then 1-2 additional tablespoons of soy sauce to taste. I stirred all that in, and then added a sprinkle of pepper and salt (again, do it to taste).

One final thorough stir and it was done. Doesn't it look good? The noodles were a bit soggy because I let them sit too long, but other than that it was great.

My First Korean Experiment: Chuncheon Dak Galbi

And now I've hopped across the Sea of Japan to the Korean Peninsula. The dish for today was Chuncheon Dak Galbi. I guess it can be described as a type of spicy chicken and vegetable stir-fry.

I decided on this recipe while browsing for Korean recipes which could be made with ingredients I had in the house. I stumbled upon this site and poked around until I found an interesting picture. And, it was the Chuncheon Dak Galbi recipe which caught my eye. 

The only changes I made to the recipe were to substitute lettuce instead of cabbage (because I didn't have any cabbage) and to reduce the amount of red pepper powder by 3/4. It was still quite spicy though I would have reduced it less if I hadn't had my little sister, who doesn't favor spicy foods, to consider. 

Even as spicy as it was, she cleaned her bowl and I think she'll do the same tomorrow when we have the leftovers.

I did have to make one other modification. I don't have any of the basic Korean sauces in the house so I had to make my own gochujang following this recipe I found online. It seemed to work fine, but I think I'll try to plan my next Korean meal in advance so that I have time to buy the sauce instead of having to make it.

I think the meal was a success, don't you? This recipe definitely will go into my to-make-again folder.

Potstickers! (aka Dumplings or Gyoza)

I mentioned having them in my last post, and last friday I finally got around to making them again. This time with a small variation - homemade wonton wrappers. They turned out really well, albeit a ton of work with the rolling pin. I followed this recipe for the wrappers. (Of course, I only needed a small amount of wrappers so I made a 1/4 recipe.)

As for the potsticker filling, I kinda make it up as I go along. This batch was made with leftovers from the last time I mixed up a batch. Usually the recipe is somewhere along the lines of:

1 lb ground pork
~1/4-1/3 head of cabbage chopped
a Tb or 2 of minced ginger (I always put in extra!)
~6 green onions minced (if I have them on hand)
Sometimes I also add in soy sauce and sake.

Then, the fun part: Mix it all up with your hands! It usually yields enough filling for around 70 potstickers. (Which is why I always have some leftover. Wonton wrappers come in packs of 50.)

And here's the result. Yummy, ne? Then you dip 'em in a mixture of soy sauce and sesame seed oil and eat until you're full.

Now, traditional japanese potstickers (gyoza) are fried in a pan until one side is crispy, but I keep forgetting to try this method of cooking. Usually I just steam them.

On a different note, I'm going to try to post once a week about asian cuisine (since that's the new direction I'm taking this blog). I should be able to keep this up since I'm already cooking it for my family once a week. Now, to remember to take pictures. I didn't remember to take any of the Omuraisu or Miso soup (w/ kale) I made tonight.

Until next time!