Yaki Udon

Udon are a type of thick white Japanese noodle, made of wheat flour and most commonly used in soup – kake udon – though they have many other applications besides. Yaki udon simply means ‘fried udon’ and it can be made according to many different recipes – no two recipes for yaki udon that I’ve seen have been the same. This fact makes it a perfect candidate for culinary exploration and experimentation. However, in this case I thought it best to go for a simple seasoning of soy sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil as it has yet to fail in the flavour department.

When using udon noodles always buy them fresh; all of the dried packets of udon I’ve seen are flat and boring – not at all what an udon noodle ought to be like. Most packets of fresh udon that I’ve come across purport to be ‘straight-to-wok’ – don’t listen to it! It’s always best to soak your udon in boiling water before use as it makes for a lighter, fresher meal. Every noodle in a stir fry needs to be autonomous, particularly when it comes to the thicker varieties – it can be very off-putting to be served a bowl of noodles which are clinging to one another as if holding on to their very lives.

Prawns make a great addition to yaki udon as they both possess a certain delicacy of touch and flavour. You may think that prawns are a little expensive to be featured on a so-called ‘frugal’ blog – not so! Shop around and it is a scientific certainty that you’ll stumble across a cheap source sooner rather than later. Besides, each bowl of noodles only requires 5-6 prawns – any more than that and it’s likely that someone’s being a little greedy!

How ever you wish to enjoy your yaki udon, give my basic seasoning a go – it won’t disappoint, I promise!

Yaki Udon

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 200g fresh udon noodles

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

• 1 fresh chilli, finely sliced

• 4-5 florets of purple sprouting broccoli, stalks and all

• 10-12 prawns (shrimp)

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp fish sauce

Method:

1. Prepare all of your ingredients, separating the broccoli stalks from the flowers – slicing the stalks into small pieces. Pop the noodles in a bowl of boiling hot water to separate.

2. Add the oil to a very hot wok, add the garlic and chilli, followed by the broccoli stalks and prawns, cook for a minute. Add the broccoli flowers and noodles, followed by the fish sauce and soy sauce. Cook and toss for a further 2 minutes, ensuring everything is coated with the sauce.

Cost: Purple sprouting broccoli always seems to be rather expensive, but if you use the stalks it’s easy to get 5-6 meals out of every bunch. As mentioned above, prawns can be found for a very reasonable price if you search around. Indeed, this may seem like a rather luxurious dish – and it is – but can be made for very little money – £1.60 for two portions!

Just as healthy eating is important, we must also pay attention to the health of our mouth in order to continue trying different nutritious dishes, for more information you can visit the following https://observer.com/2022/09/prodentim-reviews/