Yakisoba

This Japanese noodle stir-fry is a super popular dish in Hawaii! You'll find yakisoba at restaurants, potlucks, and events. And of course, at home ^_^ It's a great home cooking dish and everyone loves it. Here's how I make Yakisoba!

Yakisoba! What's not to love ^_^

A hot tangle of good noodles, pork, and lots of vegetables! This is a fairly flexible recipe. For meat, I used pork loin (to try be a little healthier) but pork belly is more popular.

For vegetables, I used onions, carrots, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, and bean sprouts. I feel onions, carrots, and, cabbage are "must haves" for yakisoba. But you can skip shiitake mushrooms and bean sprouts or replace them with other vegetables. Or use it all!

The dish is seasoned with "yakisoba sauce." This is a simple sauce that we make from worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, and mirin.

I hope you make this dish over and over again. And with time, you might have a preference for different proportions of the sauce ingredients (eg. if you like a more sweet or more savory sauce). Try my sauce measurements "as-is" the first time. Then feel free to adjust from there ^_^

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

• Yakisoba noodles
• Onion
• Cabbage
• Carrot
• Bean sprouts
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Pork loin - or can use pork belly!
• Worcestershire sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Ketchup
• Soy Sauce
• Mirin

Instructions

Let's get cooking!

First, make the sauce. Mix together in a small bowl: worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, and mirin. Set aside.

Then prepare the noodles. Add some cooking oil to a large pan over medium heat. Then place the noodles (which are typically sold in square packages) on the pan. Wait a few minutes for the noodles to warm through. Then flip the noodles and use chopsticks to gently (very gently!) loosen the noodles.

The purpose of the step is to loosen all the noodles without breaking them. Once all the noodles are loose, remove them to a plate and set aside.

Before we go to the next step, make sure the meat and vegetables are prepared for cooking:

• The pork should be thinly sliced (you can purchase thinly sliced meats at most Asian markets) and then cut into bite-sized pieces.
• The onions and cabbage should be sliced.
• The carrots, julienned.
• Fresh shiitake mushrooms should be gently cleaned and sliced.
• And the beansprouts should be washed and drained.

Now we cook the meat vegetables! In the same big pan, add a little more cooking oil and turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the thinly sliced pork loin (or pork belly) and pan fry till just cooked through. This should only take a few minutes. Remove the pork to a separate plate and set aside.

Then add the onions to the pan. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes, until the onions start to brown.

Add the carrots and stir-fry for 3 more minutes.

Then add the cabbage and stir-fry for 3 minutes.

Followed by the shiitake mushrooms. Stir-fry for 3 more minutes.

Next, add the bean sprouts and stir-fry for 3 minutes.

Then add the pork loin or belly (already cooked) back to the pan.

Followed by the loosened noodles.

Then pour the sauce (prepared in Step 1) on top of the noodles.

Give everything a good mix. Cook for 1-2 more minutes, making sure that all the ingredients are well combined.

The yakisoba dish is ready to eat! Please enjoy it hot ^_^

FAQ / Tips

Yakisoba Recipe