Cook’s notes

Meat

Pork is traditional but substituting tender chicken thigh fillets makes this Japanese stir fried noodles just as satisfying.

About the chicken. Majority of my readers are from North America where chicken breast fillet is preferred but this is Asia and this is an Asian dish. Red meat is the default. And I personally do not like white meat, so… Skin-on chicken thigh fillets are used here.

Sauce

The sauce is a mixture of Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, soy sauce and sugar. We do have a preferred ratio but feel free to tweak the proportion to suit your taste. Mix the sauce before you start stir frying because you will use it to season the chicken.

Vegetables

White cabbage is traditional, and so are carrots and scallions. I added bell peppers and some stray pieces of mushrooms. You may always a different combination of vegetables as far as I’m concerned. Just remember to cut the vegetables into small pieces so that they cook in a short time.

See: Guide to stir frying

Chicken yakisoba

Prep: 10

Cook: 10

Total: 20

Servings: 4 people

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: Japanese

Label: Stir fried noodles

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Ingredients

300 grams fresh Chinese-style noodles (chuuka men) (10.5 oz)

Yakisoba sauce

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce (Japanese Bulldog brand is recommended)
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup oyster sauce
2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
1½ tablespoons sugar

Stir fry

2 tablespoons cooking oil
200 grams chicken thigh fillets (7 oz) cut into thin strips
1 small carrot peeled and julienned
1 bell pepper cored, deseeded and julienned
1½ cups thinly sliced white cabbage
12 stalks scallions (light and dark green portions separated) cut into two-inch lengths
½ teaspoon salt

To garnish

toasted sesame seeds
aonori (available in Japanese groceries)
kizami nori (also available in Japanese groceries)

Instructions

Cook the noodles

Boil water in a pot and drop in the fresh noodles. Cook until just slightly chewy.
Dump the noodles in a strainer and rinse under the tap, tossing the noodles to get them cold.
Drain and set aside.

Mix the yakisoba sauce

In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Taste and adjust to get the flavor balance that you prefer.

Stir fry

Set the pan on the stoove over high heat and drizzle in the oil to coat the bottom.
When the oil starts to smoke, spread the chicken strips and drizzle in two tablespoons of yakisoba sauce.
Stir fry for three to four minutes.
Add the bell pepper, carrot, cabbage and scallions, sprinkle in the salt and stir fry the until the vegetables are done but still crisp.
Spread the noodles over the chicken and vegetables, drizzle in half of the yakisoba sauce, and add the dark green portion of the scallions.
Stir fry until the noodles are heated through and all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Taste. Drizzle in more sauce, if needed, and stir fry for another half a minute.