Date Night Dinners - Udon Noodles
This week we tried something a little different for us (in terms of preparing ourselves), Asian inspired cuisine. I love asian food - noodles, seafood, rice - I'll eat it all. I am even preparing myself for a sushi eating contest, whenever that comes back to town. But as I stated, making Asian inspired food is new territory for me. I haven't done much in terms of trying to make any dishes along these lines outside of 'pinning' numerous pad thai, drunken noodles, fried rice, sushi, etc. recipes. Each week I bring up a few of my top 'to try' recipes but quickly get intimidated by the ingredient list and turn to an easy pasta dish or a comforting casserole. The rare times I have attempted sushi rice, or rice at all for that matter, I have burnt it to the saucepan, ruining the rice for the evening and usually the saucepan as well. No one wants black rice. Lucky for more, I get my rice fix from my friend Miki's mom, who introduced me to 3-minute microwavable sticky rice. Amazing, right?!
As Brenden and I were pondering what to make this week, we explored the idea of soups, meats, and pastas. I was interested in soup, but it was hot so I didn't want anything creamy or overwhelmingly heavy. And I am always up for pasta, but had to admit I was getting a bit tired of our go to pasta with meat sauce. And then it hit me. Udon noodles! I almost always have experienced the amazing noodle in soups so it just kind of clicked in my mind. I would get my noodles, but it would be a treat because I rarely eat udon noodles (they are amazing) and I would get my light soup, because they are usually served in a clear broth with lots of veggies.
So I started looking for udon noodle recipes and found a few. Again, the ingredient list or length of time steered me away from a bunch (I will get more adventurous...sometime...soon, I promise). But then I came across a stir fry type meal. Not soup, but it had my noodles and veggies and that is really all I cared about at this point. Brenden looked it over and was excited too.
We gathered all of our ingredients and started chopping, mixing, and sautéing. It was actually quite simple to put together. I don't know why I have postponed dishes like this for so long! Next up on the asian inspired rotation will be pad thai, it will just take me a while to grab all the ingredients. But back to our udon stir fry. We cooked everything up in a large skillet (Brenden and I already decided we need a wok, one Asian meal and we are hooked), added the sauce, combined everything and served it. It was a hit for sure. Everything mixed well together, the sauce complimented everything without overwhelming the subtle flavors of the different veggies and noodles. We cleaned our plates and were exciting to have a delicious meal for lunch the next day.
Udon Noodle Stir Fry
Recipe adapted from emilylevenson.com, Simple Udon Noodles
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup snap peas, chopped
- 2-8oz cans water chestnuts
- 1-14oz packages of KA•ME Udon Noodles
- 1/4-1/2 cup water
- 1 lb chicken breasts (if vegetarian, substitute tofu or skip this ingredient), cubed
- In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, ginger, and garlic, whisking until thoroughly mixed.
- Set sauce aside.
- In a medium skillet, over medium heat cook the chicken through (note: if vegetarian, use tofu or skip this step).
- As the chicken is cooking, spray a large skillet with cooking oil and heat over medium-high
- Add onions and carrot and sauté for 5-7 minutes.
- Add in snow peas and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Add water chestnuts and stir.
- Add udon noodles.
- Pour in the sauce mixture (from step two).
- Stir until the sauce thickens, the noodles break up and everything is fully coated. Slowly add small amounts of water to help with this process, but do not overwhelm it.
- Add the chicken or tofu on top (if using).
- Plate, serve, and enjoy.
0 comments: