Ready, Set, Weekend with Simply Beautiful Eating
I bet you didn't know this. Ready?
Yakisoba is a classic Japanese street food made by stir-frying boiled ramen noodles, vegetables and meat or seafood with a sweet and savory sauce.
It's an easy and super delish meal that's made in minutes. Can you really ask for anything more? No.
The most time consuming part entails the prep of your veggies. Especially when you live in a house that has cupboards and drawers which "eat" your kitchen gadgets. What am I talking about? I'll tell you.
It never fails, every single time either Steve or I go to look for a pot, pan, colander, measuring cup, spoon or grater, it disappears. That's not to say I'm not organized, because I totally am. We open up the cupboard and look for specific tools, such as a box grater, and it is nowhere to be found. Here's what happens next:
1) I ask Steve if he knows where the item is. 2) He answers by saying it should be "in there". 3) I ask, where is "in there"? 4) He answers by saying, "you know where in there is". 5) I look "in there" and it's "nowhere". 6) He gets up from the couch and puts one of his Sci Fi, screaming ladies, blood spurting movies on PAUSE. 7) We now have the flashlight out (which is running out of batteries from looking for things "in there"). 8) He sticks the flashlight and half of his body IN THERE. 9) He then starts moving things around and shuffling dishes and pots and pans to find the item. (insert loud crashing sounds here→) 10) He then starts removing items from "in there" briskly and placing them on the floor (which makes me crazy because the floor is the floor and even though it's fairly clean I'm pretty sure I will need to rewash them before using. Ugh) 11) At this point, I bet you're wondering if we found the damn grater. Well....no. Moving on to point 12 now. 12) Steve now removes half his body from "in there" and decides that he needs to leave the area but not until he reorganizes the entire cupboard by placing all the items on the floor back on the shelves. Oh and one more thing. He calmly states that the shelf inside the cupboard will collapse one day from the weight of all the cookware "in there". (FYI, I've heard this story a million times but he has yet to either secure the shelf or come up with a solution other than a full kitchen renovation........thanks Steve........thanks) 13) I'm now holding the flashlight with half my body "in there". 14) And lo and behold, I'm faced with the back end of the grater which was thrown in haphazardly at the bottom of the cupboard. 15) Next, I yell - FOUND IT STEVE! 16) He then says where?
and I say.........."IN THERE".
Spicy Chicken Yakisoba Noodles -½ medium sweet onion, diced (I use a vidalia) -2 medium carrots, shredded -½ head of broccoli, separated in to small florets -1 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely diced -1 cup chicken breast, cooked (I used bbq chicken but you can sub in any meat or even cooked shrimp) -2 tablespoons avocado oil (or olive, vegetable etc.) -2 packages ramen noodles (don't use the seasoning packs, just the noodles) -1 teaspoon spicy avocado or sesame oil -¼ cup low sodium soy sauce -¼ cup worcestershire sauce -2 tablespoons ketchup -1 tablespoon chili sauce -1 tablespoon white or brown sugar *you can use any combination of Chinese greens, bean sprouts or vegetables for this stir fry
1) Before you start, you are going to prepare the vegetables and sauce for stir frying. (this saves you from scrambling around when it's GO time) 2) Peel the ginger and grate it with the fine side of box or cheese grater. 3) Peel and grate the carrots with the large holed side of a box grater. 4) Dice the onion and cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. 5) Begin boiling a medium pot full of water for the noodles. 6) In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, chili sauce and sugar. 7) Stir until the ketchup and sugar are dissolved. 8) Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the grated ginger, saute for about 30 seconds to one minute (don’t let it burn like I did, ya...I had to start over again). 9) Add all of the vegetables. Stir and cook until wilted (about 5-10 minutes). 10) Once the water boils, add the noodles and cook just until tender (2-3 minutes). Drain, return to the pot (with the heat turned off) and toss with the spicy avocado or sesame oil to keep from sticking. 11) Pour the sauce into the wok or skillet with the chicken and vegetables with the heat still on medium high. Add the noodles, stir to coat everything in the sauce, and heat through (about 2 minutes). Serve hot.
See you next week!