15 Minute Yakisoba with cabbage, broccoli, carrots, bonito and seaweed flakes garnish. December is a new month which means a new recipe swap with Recipe Swap Club! I was tasked with Recipe Road Test and picked the authentic Japanese Yakisoba inspired by Erin’s foodie experience at the University in Hakodate, where she attended college. I made a few changes to the recipe such as making it vegan swapping pork for broccoli. Make sure to visit Recipe Road Test for some great recipes from around the world. Erin, the blogger behind Recipe Road Test has 2 young children who are picky eaters so I am sure a few of you out there can relate to that scenario and she makes recipes that taste great and really work for families. The kind of recipes that you will want make over and over again.
I ventured out to Jungle Jim’s in the suburbs of Cincinnati. Jungle Jim’s has literally every type of food from around the world and tons of fresh produce so it was a perfect place to gather my ingredients. I had one issue though. Soba noodles. There were 2 aisles of Japanese noodles all in Japanese of course and so I grabbed one that looked like Soba but ended up being something different. Oopsie. The noodles are close enough to soba but I am not sure I can technically call this Yakisoba but you are going to grab the right noodle when you pick up your ingredients and not be a ding dong like me. You will be able to find all the ingredients needed at an Asian market or Amazon and I have links below of the products you want to look for.
Yakisoba typically has cabbage in it and then various vegetables of your choice. I picked up cabbage, organic carrots so I could get the various colors that look beautiful and bright, spring onion, and broccoli. My kids love broccoli so its basically become our go to veggie at this point. Of course, you can opt out of vegetables and add chicken or pork. The Chinese place we order from has a delicious Lo Mein and we always ask for no vegetables. Then, we battle on the phone to clarify we want no vegetables.
“Order of Lo Mein, no vegetables please. ”
“Lo Mein, no veggie?”
“Yeah, no veggie on the Lo Mein.”
“You sure? No veggie Lo Mein.”
I feel pressure to respond with an explanation “Carbo load me up today because it has been a long day and I need comfort noodles and not vegetables while I lay in bed and stuff my face.” I don’t really respond with that… just the back and forth verifying no veggie. [Get to the point Amber]. Customize this dish how you please.
15 Minute Yakisoba is simple to make and on top we put dried Bonito flakes and Aonori seaweed. Aaron kept telling me he didn’t want the fish food on top (Bonito flakes) but I made him eat them anyways and he enjoyed it. Recipe Road Test suggested powdered seaweed but we just broke ours up into little flakes. Next time I make this recipe, I will change two things. One: buy the correct noodles and Two: grab a hot sauce for on top. Would be awesome with something spice added!
15 Minute Yakisoba |
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (was recommended to use 2 teaspoons but I like olive oil and wanted to give a light coating to all the veggies)
- .5 bunch of cabbage (can use the whole bunch as it shrinks while cooking)
- 3 carrots julienned
- 4 spring onions thinkly sliced
- 1 cup broccoli
- Japanese noodles, such as soba or udon noodles
- 6 tablespoons Yakisoba sauce
- Bonito flakes to garnish
- Aonori seaweed to garnish
- Gather ingredients, wash vegetables well, grab a wok, cutting board, knife, strainer, measuring cup and tongs.
- Cut the carrots, onions, broccoli and cabbage. Set aside.
- Cook the noodles in the wok on a medium to high heat according to package directions. My directions had one step in English. "Cook until soft" I cooked the noodles for about 3 minutes and strained.
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and your vegetable mixture to the same wok. Cook for 5 minutes tossing every so often.
- Add the noodles and 6 tablespoons yakisoba sauce. Mix for one minute. Taste. May need to add a pinch more yakisoba sauce according to your taste preference. Cook one more minute.
- Place into bowls and garnish with the Bonito and Aonori seaweed flakes.
- Preparation time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 10 minutes
- Total time: 15 minutes
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Sorry, you cook the soba noodles in the wok? You don’t boil them in water?
Yes, still cook the noodles according to the package directions. I used the wok so I didn’t dirty any more pans.