Japanese Vegetable Stir-Fried Noodles | Yasai Yaki Soba

This month International Food Challenge is exploring the Hokkaido region from Japanese cuisine. Hokkaido is called “kingdom of food” and there are a lot of unique dishes from this region. Hokkaido is well known for its rich variety of fresh seafood and dairy products. Shazia of Cutchi Kitchen is hosting this month's IFC and she has chosen 4 wonderful recipes from the Hokkaido region.

Yasai yaki soba is a Japanese stir fried noodles with vegetables. Yasai means 'vegetable', yaki means 'to grill or fry' and soba means 'buckwheat'. This particular dish is made with buckwheat noodles, which is a thin type of noodle made from buckwheat flour. The vegetables and noodles are stir fried and served with a thick and sweet sauce. Even if you can't get soba noodles, do try this with any other type of noodles.

YASAI YAKI SOBA RECIPE

Recipe Source ~ BBC Food Recipes
Serves 3

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Japanese stir-fried buckwheat noodles with vegetables

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Ingredients:

For the yaki soba dressing:
½ cup / 100 ml teriyaki sauce
4½ tbsp crushed yellow bean sauce
1 lemongrass stalk, finely sliced
1 tbsp grated ginger

For the noodles:
200gm soba noodles / buckwheat noodles
2  eggs
½ green capsicum, sliced
½ red capsicum, sliced
1 medium size onion, thinly sliced
8 spring onions, sliced
10 mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Handful fresh bean sprouts
4 tbsp teriyaki sauce
3 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp sesame seeds

Method:

1. For the yaki soba dressing, bring the teriyaki sauce, yellow bean sauce, lemongrass and ginger to the boil in a small pan, stirring well.

2.  Reduce the heat until the mixture is just simmering, then continue to simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. Set aside until ready to serve.

3. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes, or until just tender. Drain well then run under cold running water until the noodles are completely cold.

4. In a bowl, beat the eggs. Then add capsicum, onion, spring onions, mushrooms, garlic and bean sprouts and mix until the vegetables are coated in the eggs.

5. Stir in the teriyaki sauce until well combined.

6.  Heat the oil in a wok over a medium heat. Add the egg and vegetable mixture and the noodles. Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes or until the noodles have warmed through and the eggs and vegetables are cooked through.

7. To serve, divide the vegetables and noodles equally. Drizzle over the yaki soba dressing. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds.

My Notes:

1. If you can't get yellow bean sauce use hoisin sauce as a substitute.

2. Substitute with any other thin variety of noodles if you can't find soba noodles.