As much as I struggled with my Asian identity growing up, I have very fond memories of visiting Japan as a kid. One of my favourite activities was going to summer festivals, or Matsuri, which always had rows of brightly colored stalls with games for kids, and even more stalls hawking food. It’s hard to say what my favourite stall food was, but I’ve always loved the sweet spicy aroma of yakisoba sizzling on a flat metal griddle. I vividly remember those lantern lit stalls that were often manned by burly buzz cut men, sporting hachimakis around their heads to catch the sweat dripping from their brow as they furiously stir fried the noodles with 2 metal spatulas.
Yakisoba means “fried noodles” and is commonly found all over Japan at festivals, sporting events, and shops that specialize in okonomiyaki (a type of Japanese pancake). Despite having “soba” in the name, yakisoba is actually made with thin Chinese egg noodles, not buckwheat soba. My hunch is that this is the Japanese descendant of the ubiquitous Chinese dish, chow mein.
It’s very simple to make and is a great way to use up odds and ends in your refrigerator. By adding your choice of meat, seafood and veggies, you can customize it to your tastes as well as what you have available. The sweet, tangy tonkatsu sauce imbues the noodles with a deep mahogany color and gives the dish its unique caramelized flavour.
I made this as part of my meal for the Korea v. Japan WBC championship game, so I wanted to give this dish a Korean kick. Some garlic and gochujang, really took this to a new place, adding more depth and plenty of heat, but if you’re looking for the authentic Japanese classic, omit these two ingredients.
Once the noodles are done, they are topped with aonori, which are dried green seaweed flakes that are a bit different from the sheets of nori used for wrapping sushi. For added color and a briny zing, benishoga (red pickled ginger) is usually added to top the pile of noodles off.
Units
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ pound shrimp (any meat or seafood will do)
- 1 cup cabbage (roughly chopped)
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- ½ small onion (sliced)
- ½ small carrot (shredded)
- 10 ounces ramen noodles (cooked)
- 2 scallions (thinly sliced)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 3 tablespoons Tonkatsu sauce (Worcestershire sauce will do in a pinch)
- 1 tablespoon gochujang
- ground white pepper
- aonori (green nori flakes, optional)
- benishoga (red pickled ginger, optional)
Instructions
- If you are using meat or seafood, sprinkle with salt and pepper then heat 1 Tbs of oil in a pan or wok and fry until just barely cooked. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Saute the cabbage, bean sprouts, onions, and carrot until they are mostly tender. Add the noodles, scallions and garlic, then cover with the remaining oil (1 Tbs). If the noodles have clumped together, add a few tablespoons of water to the pan to help separate them. Stir fry the noodles until they are completely separated and there is no water remaining. Add the meat/seafood back into the pan along with the tonkatsu sauce, gochujang and white pepper and stir fry until the sauce is evenly coated around the noodles.
- To serve, plate the noodles and top with with a sprinkle of aonori flakes and benishoga.
Opaque.Megane says
You can make your own Katsu sauce pretty easily. You probably even have all the stuff you need.
just mix together:
– 1/2 cup ketchup
– 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
– 2 teaspoons soy sauce
-1/2 teaspoon dried mustard powder dissolved in 1 teaspoon water
(Courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated)
I’m not 100% sure of its authenticity, but it tastes just like katsu sauce to me.
Marilia says
hmmmm…drooollliinnggg… :p
It’s look like Indonesian fried noodle .. I looovvee Japanese food.. in this one… [sigh] … scrumptious !
Ami says
Thank you very much for posting this recipe. I tried making this earlier and it was delicious! Thanks again.
Allison Schiltz says
I found katsu and tonkatsu at my asian market. Is there a difference?
Allison Schiltz says
I found katsu and tonkatsu at my asian market. Is there a difference?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Allison, Tonkatsu is a two part word which splits up to:
“ton”=pork
“katsu”=cutlet
Together they refer to a dish were a pork cutlet is breaded with panko and deep fried. However if the meat was raw, they may just be saying the meat was meant for making tonkatsu.
As for the one labeled “katsu” I’m not really sure why they would label it like that as it should be proceeded by the type of meet “chickenkatsu” “gyukatsu”(beefkatsu) etc.
Allison Schiltz says
Thanks!
Lokness @ The Missing Lokness says
Any suggestion on noodle brand? I had some really good yakisoba in a Japanese restaurant. The noodles were al dente. When I was trying to make it at home, my noodles were very soggy. Thank you.
Marc Matsumoto says
You could try using ramen noodles (the kind sold out of a refrigerator (not the dried kind). Or you could make your own https://norecipes.com/blog/homemade-ramen-noodle-recipe/
KeLe says
Kabamarou
Dewi Wahyudi says
gochujang if in Indonesia can replace what?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Dewi, I’m not really familiar with the types of things you can buy in Indonesia, but gochujang is a sweet chili bean paste.