Japanese dish by street vendor Part I; Yakisoba - Updated on July 8th,2010
*** Updated area in red.Picture is added.
In previous entry titled "Nabemono dish Part II:Shabu shabu, Yu doufu, Chanko nabe,Oden ", I wrote that Oden is very popular winter dish. It is a dish made in dashi (kelp broth), and has boiled egg, daikon radish, taro, Tofu, chikuwa, konnyaku,Tsukune, and many many more of ingredients. Ingredients or sauce is varied depending on region or household. And you can get a bowl of Oden dish at convenience stores as well.
Oden is also one of popular dishes serve at vendor's stall on the street just like New York has many vendor stalls on the street selling bagels,hot dogs, and pretzels. You can also find vendor stall that serves Ramen on the street in Japan. In Japanese,street vendor stall is called Yatai .
If you visit festivals, you would find many more vendor stalls that sell all kinds of things such as Oden ,grilled corn basted with soy sauce, Okonomiyaki (savory pancake), Yakisoba (Worcester sauce flavored fried noodle with vegetables),Takoyaki (savory ball shaped pan cake batter with chunk of octopus), and mitarashi dango (Japanese dumplings made from rice flour and skewered and basted with sweet soy sauce flavored sauce),yakitori etc.
What is Yakisoba?
Yakisoba is a dish made with wheat flour noodles. The dish my mother used to make had thinly cut pork tenderloin,shredded cabbage, sliced carrots,sliced onion, and beansprout and dish was sprinkled with powdered Nori (seaweed) and bonito flakes called "Katsuo bushi". Then, noodle was flavored with Worcester sauce. If you go to grocery stores in Japan, you can find a bottle of Yakisoba sauce that is specially made for the use for the dish.
I have seen instant yakisoba package here in the states,which you are supposed to pour some boiled water in and wait for a couple of minutes before eating.However, the instant Yakisoba package I have bought here in the states came out real greasy and it was nothing like the instant yakisoba noodle package you can get in Japan.
I also heard from my husband that when he was at school years,he had seen "Yakisoba" as school lunch menu but it was made with spaghetti with ground beef and it was nothing like real Yakisoba he has eaten in Japan. Traditionally,dish is made with pork but since he likes Yakisoba with beef,rather than pork,I tend to make it with beef.
Yakisoba is actually very very easy to make at home.
Beef Yakisoba
<How to make Pork Yakisoba dish>
When I make Yakisoba dish, noodle I normally use is Chow Mein Noodles/Chinese noodles.You can find them at International ail at local grocery store.
My favorite brand of noodle for this dish is via Asian Gourmet brand called "Chinese Noodles".
1. Slice Pork tenderloin, and pound it with meat mallet to thin and slice thin. Then, marinade them in 1 tbs of Sake and pinch of table salt.
2. Slice vegetable of your choice.Basic Yakisoba noodle dish has cabbage,carrots,and onion along with sliced pork tenderloin.
** Easiest way to make the dish is to use coleslaw bag.It already has shredded cabbage and carrots and all you need to add is sliced onion to it. With about 3-4 servings,I usually use 1 package of 8 oz Chinese Noodles and use about 6 oz of coleslaw one pound bag.
3. Boil the water in big pan and cook the Chow Mein noodle to about 90% doneness , and after drain the water from the noodle, fry them in the skillet with about 1tbs of vegetable oil.
4. Take out the fried noodle onto plate and, add the sliced pork tenderloin, and vegetable into skillet and sprinkle Morton's Natures season.
5. When vegetable and pork are about done, put the noodle back into the skillet and sprinkle pinch of chicken consomme (I have hard time to find my favorite brand's consomme cube, but I found it at amazon.com Japan website. I am not sure if they ship Internationally) or chicken bullion, add about 1/4 C water, and stir and cover the skillet with lid for about 1 minutes or so and steam them.
6. Add 6tbs of Worcester sauce, 1 tbs of oyster sauce to the skillet and mix well and adjust the seasoning. Then, just before serving drizzle sesame oil to flavor the dish and serve.
** You can sprinkle bonito flakes (Katsuo bushi) or seaweed (Nori) over the dish too.
<How to make Beef Yakisoba dish>
1. Slice Frank steak, against grain diagonally very thin. Pound the sliced beef, and slice across again. Then, marinade them in 1 tbs of Sake and pinch of table salt.
** My choice of beef cut is frank steak because since you slice them thin and against the grain diagonally,the beef pieces comes out very very tender even if it is leaner cut of beef.
2. Slice vegetable of your choice.Basic Yakisoba noodle dish has cabbage,carrots,and onion along with sliced pork tenderloin. But you can make it with other protein source such as beef,shrimp etc.
** Easiest way to make the dish is to use coleslaw bag.It already has shredded cabbage and carrots and all you need to add is sliced onion to it. With about 3-4 servings,I usually use 1 package of 8 oz Chinese Noodles and use about 6 oz of coleslaw one pound bag.
3. Boil the water in big pan and cook the Chow Mein noodle/Chinese Noodles to about 90% doneness , and after drain the water from the noodle, fry them in the skillet with about 1tbs of vegetable oil.
4. Take out the fried noodle onto plate and, add the thinly sliced and marinaded beef, and vegetable into skillet and sprinkle Morton's Natures season.Then, when you cook dish with beef, add about 1tbs or so of A1 sauce and mix well.
5. When vegetable and beef are about done, put the noodle back into the skillet and sprinkle pinch of chicken consomme (I have hard time to find my favorite brand's consomme cube, but I found it at amazon.com Japan website. I am not sure if they ship Internationally) or chicken bullion, add about 1/4 C water, and stir and cover the skillet with lid for about 1 minutes or so and steam them.
6. Add 6tbs of Worcester sauce, 1 tbs of oyster sauce to the skillet and mix well and adjust the seasoning. Then, just before serving drizzle sesame oil to flavor the dish and serve.
** You can sprinkle bonito flakes (Katsuo bushi) or seaweed (Nori) over the dish too.
Bellow is youtube video I have found on Yakisoba restaurant showing how they make their version of Yakisoba. The video is in Japanese. So,I will explain bellow what they are talking on the video. If you are a blog subscriber or reading from Facebook,please click here to watch video.
Fujinomiya Yakisoba restaurant
What makes unique about this restaurant is that they use steamed noodle and it has unique texture in the noodle.
Basically,how they made their Yakisoba is that, when pork fat is melted, they put cabbage and cook them with steamed noodle, and pour a little bit of water,and wait till it gets evaporated.After that, they add their signature Yakisoba dish sauce over the noodle and cabbage mix and serve with pickled ginger on the side. It showed one of their Yakisoba dish is about $4 in US dollars.
They seem to venture out the flavor of Yakisoba dish and they are offering mayo flavored Yakisoba, Curry flavored Yakisoba etc. If you visit Tokyo,Japan, this restaurant maybe interesting place for you to visit.
In previous entry titled "Nabemono dish Part II:Shabu shabu, Yu doufu, Chanko nabe,Oden ", I wrote that Oden is very popular winter dish. It is a dish made in dashi (kelp broth), and has boiled egg, daikon radish, taro, Tofu, chikuwa, konnyaku,Tsukune, and many many more of ingredients. Ingredients or sauce is varied depending on region or household. And you can get a bowl of Oden dish at convenience stores as well.
Oden is also one of popular dishes serve at vendor's stall on the street just like New York has many vendor stalls on the street selling bagels,hot dogs, and pretzels. You can also find vendor stall that serves Ramen on the street in Japan. In Japanese,street vendor stall is called Yatai .
If you visit festivals, you would find many more vendor stalls that sell all kinds of things such as Oden ,grilled corn basted with soy sauce, Okonomiyaki (savory pancake), Yakisoba (Worcester sauce flavored fried noodle with vegetables),Takoyaki (savory ball shaped pan cake batter with chunk of octopus), and mitarashi dango (Japanese dumplings made from rice flour and skewered and basted with sweet soy sauce flavored sauce),yakitori etc.
What is Yakisoba?
Yakisoba is a dish made with wheat flour noodles. The dish my mother used to make had thinly cut pork tenderloin,shredded cabbage, sliced carrots,sliced onion, and beansprout and dish was sprinkled with powdered Nori (seaweed) and bonito flakes called "Katsuo bushi". Then, noodle was flavored with Worcester sauce. If you go to grocery stores in Japan, you can find a bottle of Yakisoba sauce that is specially made for the use for the dish.
I have seen instant yakisoba package here in the states,which you are supposed to pour some boiled water in and wait for a couple of minutes before eating.However, the instant Yakisoba package I have bought here in the states came out real greasy and it was nothing like the instant yakisoba noodle package you can get in Japan.
I also heard from my husband that when he was at school years,he had seen "Yakisoba" as school lunch menu but it was made with spaghetti with ground beef and it was nothing like real Yakisoba he has eaten in Japan. Traditionally,dish is made with pork but since he likes Yakisoba with beef,rather than pork,I tend to make it with beef.
Yakisoba is actually very very easy to make at home.
Beef Yakisoba
<How to make Pork Yakisoba dish>
When I make Yakisoba dish, noodle I normally use is Chow Mein Noodles/Chinese noodles.You can find them at International ail at local grocery store.
My favorite brand of noodle for this dish is via Asian Gourmet brand called "Chinese Noodles".
1. Slice Pork tenderloin, and pound it with meat mallet to thin and slice thin. Then, marinade them in 1 tbs of Sake and pinch of table salt.
2. Slice vegetable of your choice.Basic Yakisoba noodle dish has cabbage,carrots,and onion along with sliced pork tenderloin.
** Easiest way to make the dish is to use coleslaw bag.It already has shredded cabbage and carrots and all you need to add is sliced onion to it. With about 3-4 servings,I usually use 1 package of 8 oz Chinese Noodles and use about 6 oz of coleslaw one pound bag.
3. Boil the water in big pan and cook the Chow Mein noodle to about 90% doneness , and after drain the water from the noodle, fry them in the skillet with about 1tbs of vegetable oil.
4. Take out the fried noodle onto plate and, add the sliced pork tenderloin, and vegetable into skillet and sprinkle Morton's Natures season.
5. When vegetable and pork are about done, put the noodle back into the skillet and sprinkle pinch of chicken consomme (I have hard time to find my favorite brand's consomme cube, but I found it at amazon.com Japan website. I am not sure if they ship Internationally) or chicken bullion, add about 1/4 C water, and stir and cover the skillet with lid for about 1 minutes or so and steam them.
6. Add 6tbs of Worcester sauce, 1 tbs of oyster sauce to the skillet and mix well and adjust the seasoning. Then, just before serving drizzle sesame oil to flavor the dish and serve.
** You can sprinkle bonito flakes (Katsuo bushi) or seaweed (Nori) over the dish too.
<How to make Beef Yakisoba dish>
1. Slice Frank steak, against grain diagonally very thin. Pound the sliced beef, and slice across again. Then, marinade them in 1 tbs of Sake and pinch of table salt.
** My choice of beef cut is frank steak because since you slice them thin and against the grain diagonally,the beef pieces comes out very very tender even if it is leaner cut of beef.
2. Slice vegetable of your choice.Basic Yakisoba noodle dish has cabbage,carrots,and onion along with sliced pork tenderloin. But you can make it with other protein source such as beef,shrimp etc.
** Easiest way to make the dish is to use coleslaw bag.It already has shredded cabbage and carrots and all you need to add is sliced onion to it. With about 3-4 servings,I usually use 1 package of 8 oz Chinese Noodles and use about 6 oz of coleslaw one pound bag.
3. Boil the water in big pan and cook the Chow Mein noodle/Chinese Noodles to about 90% doneness , and after drain the water from the noodle, fry them in the skillet with about 1tbs of vegetable oil.
4. Take out the fried noodle onto plate and, add the thinly sliced and marinaded beef, and vegetable into skillet and sprinkle Morton's Natures season.Then, when you cook dish with beef, add about 1tbs or so of A1 sauce and mix well.
5. When vegetable and beef are about done, put the noodle back into the skillet and sprinkle pinch of chicken consomme (I have hard time to find my favorite brand's consomme cube, but I found it at amazon.com Japan website. I am not sure if they ship Internationally) or chicken bullion, add about 1/4 C water, and stir and cover the skillet with lid for about 1 minutes or so and steam them.
6. Add 6tbs of Worcester sauce, 1 tbs of oyster sauce to the skillet and mix well and adjust the seasoning. Then, just before serving drizzle sesame oil to flavor the dish and serve.
** You can sprinkle bonito flakes (Katsuo bushi) or seaweed (Nori) over the dish too.
Bellow is youtube video I have found on Yakisoba restaurant showing how they make their version of Yakisoba. The video is in Japanese. So,I will explain bellow what they are talking on the video. If you are a blog subscriber or reading from Facebook,please click here to watch video.
Fujinomiya Yakisoba restaurant
According to the video, the restaurant chef says their Yakisoba does not use oil at all. Instead,they use the pork fat. That is small bits you saw on the griddle in the video.
What makes unique about this restaurant is that they use steamed noodle and it has unique texture in the noodle.
Basically,how they made their Yakisoba is that, when pork fat is melted, they put cabbage and cook them with steamed noodle, and pour a little bit of water,and wait till it gets evaporated.After that, they add their signature Yakisoba dish sauce over the noodle and cabbage mix and serve with pickled ginger on the side. It showed one of their Yakisoba dish is about $4 in US dollars.
They seem to venture out the flavor of Yakisoba dish and they are offering mayo flavored Yakisoba, Curry flavored Yakisoba etc. If you visit Tokyo,Japan, this restaurant maybe interesting place for you to visit.
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