Monday, January 21, 2013

Japanese Pan Noodles

Hi, guys!  You are looking at my first official post.  I hope you like it.  The thing I want to make with you is: JAPANESE PAN NOODLES! These are pretty great.  Would you like to cook with me?  I suggest listening to the song 'Littlest Birds' by Be Good Tanya to get you in the mood to cook.  I really don't know how to get music on my blog yet, so until then, I will link or mention stuff I like.

I was pushed to post this by the fact that a Noodles and Company is opening up in my neck of the woods, which means I may not ever make this again!

If you do not have that awesome restaurant near you, then get all your ingredients together on your counter or table to make this -->
Ingredients List
Linguine noodles are my noodle of choice, but any similar one will do

Sesame Seeds, black 

Sesame Seed Oil (don't skip this, it makes the whole dish!)

Oyster sauce which you can find at any grocery store near the soy sauce

Soy Sauce  in your favorite brand

Rice Wine Vinegar (don't use rice-vinegar and wine.  I won't say how I know this isn't a good substitute.)

Chilli Garlic Sauce (this comes in a small clear plastic jar with a wide green lid on top.  It is a must. Coming soon: A post on delicious egg rolls and sweet chilli dipping sauce made with this magical ingredient!)

Awesome, Fresh, and Yummy Things: 
a knob of fresh ginger root, 
a handful of cilantro, 
one lime, 
one nice carrot, 
a few green onions, 
a large garlic clove, 
a few Shiitake mushrooms (although you can get these dry and rehydrate them and it is pretty darn good.  Do that first if that is the route you go)
and a big handful of bean sprouts.

Optional: Thinly sliced leftover steak or chicken, or cooked and peeled shrimp to put on top.

Then, you do it to it!  This goes fast, so hang on!  Boil a large stock pot of water for your noodles, just like when you are being Italian.  Add salt just like when you are being Italian, but remember to be Asian today.  Don't forget to turn on your exhaust fan if you have one.  Things are getting all steamed up now!  Have your noodles nearby, but don't tell them their fate, unless you are kind of mean.

Walk on over to your cutting board and get out your beautiful chef's knife.  It is essential to have a chef's knife.  With one of these, you can do anything you set your mind to.  If you don't know what a chef's knife is, check out my most favorite gift that I ever got myself by clicking here.

Now be careful to curl the fingertips on your helper hand inward to hold the fresh ingredients stable while you chop with your boss hand.  A helper hand is valuable, so you don't want to injure the little guy, do you? 

Chop up some green onions (like, oh, 4 of them)  into long, dramatic pieces.  You can slit them lengthwise first if you want.  Do chop the white parts more finely, though.  Push that aside and smash that clove of garlic to remove the skin.  Cut off the end and mince finely.  Take your time if you are new to this.  Your knife is sticky now, so rinse it and your fingers and move on with your life.  Julienne your peeled and cleaned carrot and continue doing that til you have matchstick pieces.  Click here to learn how to Julienne.  It's super easy.  Okay?  Now we can slice those Shiitake mushrooms into fat strips.  Just toss the stems.  If you have kept your ginger root in the freezer, it will be easy to deal with.  Carefully peel it with the knife, being respectful to that helper hand of course, then slice thin sheets off with the knife.  From there you can cut horizontally, then vertically until you have a very fine mince.  You want about 2 Tbs of this or so.  You can pile all this stuff together.

Did I forget anything?  No?  Okay.  By now your water is boiling, so add your noodles; enough for 2-4 servings, depending on who you are serving.  If I come over, then plan on me eating most of it, no matter what. Either way, you want about one small package of noodles for these instructions.  Keep them from sticking by stirring occasionally until they are al dente; or, firm to bite, but not too firm.  Strain in that cute colander you have waiting in the sink, then put them right back into the pot.

Just go ahead and add 2-3 Tb of each of the liquids and seeds (except for the chilli sauce, just add a small amount or skip it altogether!!!) then dump in everything but the lime and cilantro.  (If you want to enjoy this cold, which is my favorite way to eat it, if I can wait, then keep your meats out too so they don't get tough and weird tasting... then just mix them in before shoving this into the refrigerator for snacking on later.)

You want a medium to dark brown color on the noodles, so add a tiny bit more Oyster Sauce if you didn't achieve the color in the picture.

Stir this heavenly stuff all altogether on med. low heat for about a minute or two, then serve with the fixings on top or chill it for later!  I would suggest keeping it a secret, but your house will smell awesome, so it truly isn't possible.

Here are some pictures I took today.  These boys can't resist these noodles that we ate for lunch today, and this little-sweet-baby-girl-puppy is so good that she would never sniff the table.  Not buying it?  Sometimes she doesn't.

L to R: Zane, my youngest twin, Quorra, my princess, and Noah, my oldest twin.  One of the benefits of home schooling is that I can stop what I'm doing and take a photo shoot of my boys, who are apparently going through a James Dean phase, while they wrestle on the couch with the dog.  This pose was Noah's idea---->

Interesting fact: My father was named after James Dean.

Interesting fact number two: my dog was named after the girl with black hair on the movie Tron.  Who loves that movie?
             




4 comments:

  1. This is great! Is there a away to click "follow" so I can get email notifications?

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    1. Starkist156. I never thought about it before, but as I reply, I see what looks like a link that says 'subscribe by email' at the bottom on the right. You can try that out. Thanks for the love! :)

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  2. Congrats on making it official! And the recipe looks really yummy! I think we may have to try it soon. :^)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Tina! You were an awesome help in getting this thing launched!

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