Japanese Stir-Fry Noodles Yakisoba (焼きそば)

No kidding, this recipe truly worth a try. The yakisoba was so good that I was planned for 6 servings, but ended up with 4 gigantic plate of food. Why? Because such comforting recipe can be too dangerous and making eaters wanting for more. I had to re-arrange the portion to satisfy that growing appetite.

Japanese stir-fry noodles yakisoba (焼きそば) -

Ingredients (supposedly 6 servings)?

• 2 packs/1200 grams yakisoba noodles (yellow and slightly oiled noodles)
• 320 grams ground pork
• 6 to 8 slices pork loin
• 1/2 small onion
• 1/2 small cabbage
• 6 eggs
• 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• Some olive oil
• Some salt
• Some black pepper
• Some Katsuobushi
• Some Japanese mayonnaise 
• Some dried seaweed flakes
• Some beni shōga/red pickled ginger (optional)

How?  

Peel and slice the onion. Chop the cabbage into smaller pieces. Season the pork loin slices with some salt and black pepper on both sides.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil then quickly add in the yakisoba or selected oiled yellow noodles. This is only to wash away extra oil, so a quick dip will do. Drain and set aside for later use.

Prepare a wok or a big non-stick pan, drizzle about 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil and turn to medium high heat. Once warmed up, break in the eggs one by one to make sunny side up eggs. Sear till the edges of the egg white turn slightly browned or tiny bit burnt, but make sure the center yolk remains slightly undercooked. Make the sunny side up eggs in two or three batches if needed, for instance, if the cookware is not wide enough. Once the eggs are ready, scoop out for later use.

Use the same cookware, add in 1 more tablespoon of olive oil if the surface is too dry. Continue to use medium high heat, transfer pork slices over and sear till slightly colored. Flip and continue to sear till colored on the other side. Again, scoop out for later use.

Still using the same cookware and medium high heat. This time, add in ground pork and stir-fry till about half way cooked through. Add in onion slices and cabbage. Turn to high heat. Cook till the cabbage softened, or till it reaches desired texture. Some like it soft, some like it crunchy, so the cooking time varies here.

Transfer drained noodles over and give it a quick mix. Pour in 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 4 tablespoons oyster sauce, and 2 tablespoons water. The ratio is about 2:2:1 for Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, and water. Mix well, and continue to cook for 30 seconds to a minute. Taste and adjust with extra seasonings if needed.

Arrange the yakisoba to serving plates. Top each serving with 1 to 2 pork loin slices. Also top each serving with one sunny side up egg. Generously drizzle Japanese mayonnaise all over and sprinkle some dried seaweed flakes. Add some katsuobushi right before serving, so that the katsuobushi will start "dancing" when in contact with heat, making a pleasing visual presentation.

If red pickled ginger is available, serve along with the yakisoba.

This recipe makes a good bento/lunch box meal too. However, in that case, perhaps try to mix in the katsuobushi with the noodles instead of adding on top. Even though you won't be able to see dancing katsuobushi, at least the flavors are still up there, comforting and making one wanting for more.   

Extended Reading:

• Mentaiko and soy milk udon 明太子豆乳烏龍麵
• Black yakiudon (焼きうどん)

Steamed Fish Fillets with Aged Shaoxing Wine 陳紹蒸魚片

Usually, or more so I was accustomed to use rice cooking wine when steaming fish. The clear kind of Chinese rice cooking wine. However, this time I've switched to a stronger scented yellow wine, in this case, aged Shaoxing wine for a flavor boost. The end result got quite a kick to it but not over-powering to a point blanketing all the other seasonings used. Consider it a good steer away from my common seasonings.

Steamed fish fillets with aged Shaoxing wine 陳紹蒸魚片 - 

Ingredients?

• 240 grams Taiwanese snapper fillets
• 1 ripe tomato
• 140 grams/2 loosely packed cups mixed mushrooms
• 3 to 4 bok choi
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon aged Shaoxing wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce paste
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar
• Few splashes Chinese rice cooking wine 
• Tiny pinch salt
• Tiny pinch black pepper

How?

Slice the fish into smaller fillet pieces. Add a few drops of Chinese rice cooking wine and let it marinate for few minutes. It'll help reduce some fishy or earthy scent from the fish.

Destem and cut the tomato into smaller chunks. If using larger bok choi, cut or tear into smaller pieces. Destem the mushrooms. Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves.

Take a serving plate or a container, add in fish fillets, 1 tablespoon of aged Shaoxing wine, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce paste, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/8 teaspoon of sugar, garlics, tomatoes, bok choy, mushrooms, tiny pinch of salt, and tiny pinch of black pepper.

Use a steamer, per my case, I used Taiwanese Tatung cooker, steam for 15 minutes. Doesn't really matter if you start steaming before or after the temperature rises, the fish used here won't get too tough or bad texture even if cooked a bit too long. Once done, turn off the power and let the residual heat to continue cooking the fish for another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Re-plate if needed and serve right away.

The fish used here, Taiwanese snapper, it's cheap but not the most delicious option. Sometimes it'll come with an earthy scent. So to incorporate stronger alcohol, like aged Shaoxing wine, works really well to wash away that perhaps unpleasant flavor.

On top of that, I omitted the use of sesame oil in the end because I would rather let the aged Shaoxing wine shine instead of over-mixing with also strong-scented sesame oil. If you insist, simply splash some sesame oil before serving.

You can also include some ginger and scallion, or even red chilies. Adding these extra ingredients will only boost up the flavors, don't worry about over-complicating the dish. However, with aged Shaoxing wine and garlics along, still a well-present, easy-cleaning recipe.


Other recipes using fish fillets:

• Steamed bass fillets with cordia dichotoma 破布子蒸鱸魚片
• Lemon butter baked fish fillets
• Baked tarragon salmon fillets