← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 500 g frozen or vacuum-packed udon (2 portions)
• 170 g thinly sliced pork belly, cut into 4 cm pieces
• ½ Onion, thinly sliced
• 200 g Cabbage, cut into bite-size pieces
• ½ Carrot, cut into thin strips
• 2 Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Spring onion, cut into 4 cm lengths
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 pinch Black pepper
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Sake
• 1 tsp Mirin
• 1 tbsp Oyster sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil
• 2 tbsp Bonito flakes (optional)
• 1 tbsp Pickled red ginger (beni shoga) (optional)

Method

1. Loosen the udon: cook frozen noodles in boiling water for 1 minute, or pour boiling water over vacuum-packed ones, then drain well. Mix the sauce ingredients.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Fry the pork for 2–3 min, until browned and cooked through, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the onion, carrot and shiitake and stir-fry for 2 min, then the cabbage and spring onion for 2 min more, until just tender but still crunchy.
4. Add the noodles and the sauce and toss over high heat for 2 min, until the noodles are hot and evenly glazed. Drizzle with sesame oil.
5. Pile onto plates and top with bonito flakes and pickled red ginger.

Tips

• For vegetarian yaki udon, use fried tofu instead of pork and skip the oyster sauce and bonito.
• Frozen udon is the best supermarket choice; it stays chewy instead of breaking up.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Chopstick Chronicles