Happy Tiger Year!

I was invited to a new year party this week, but because I'm lame, I didn't go. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun, though: The guests were to bring a dish they considered to be Chinese, and their favorite Chinese quote. The best quote contributor will be the winner of a grand prize and two shots of sorghum wine!

So I thought that this dish would be a good choice:


Plus, it contains noodles, which are known to bring good luck to their New Year eater.
It's based on Bittersweet's recipe, but adapted to what I had on hand. Also, although I LOVE soba noodles, I decided to try acorn noodles - they turned out to be very good indeed!

Here's the original recipe as well as my adaptations:

Fish-Free Dashi

4 Cups Vegetable Stock
1 Heaping Tablespoon Instant Wakame Flakes [didn't have any, omitted]
3 Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, Finely Chopped [chopped some brown beech mushrooms instead]
2 Tablespoons Tamari or Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Barley Miso Paste [used whatever miso I have at home]
1 – 2 Scallions, Thinly Sliced [no scallions, oh well]

The instructions say to mix all these ingredients together, bring to the brink of a boil, and then pour it over cooked noodles and vegetables. As I mentioned before, I used acorn noodles (yum!) and the vegetables were snow peas from our garden (yum!) and carrots. Both veggies were cooked in boiling water for just a few seconds.

I liked it. Mark didn't care much for it. I suspect it's the miso. I doubt it was the absence of Wakami flakes, as Mark doesn't like seaweeds at all. Hopefully he will get the good luck anyway.

Oh, as for the quote, here's my favorite:

"A book is like a garden you can carry in your pocket".

Soba X 2

That's right! Soba noodles are so good, we had them TWICE last week. (Yeah, I know, it's been a while...).
The first one was SOOO good, you just have to try it. Really - it has lime, mint, and mango - how much better can it get?



You can find the recipe here.
I think it was a bit too sour, so next time I will use less vinegar and maybe dilute it a bit.

The second soba noodle recipe was okay, but nothing to rave about, especially after eating the first one. If you have near-expiration spinach and have no bananas, this recipe will be a good use for it.



I have to admit, I modified the recipe a little bit, so maybe it could be better if you follow it directly. I used teriyaki sauce instead of soy sauce, and mirin instead of sherri. Can't see why these modifications wouldn't make it better, really, but who knows?

Not Yucky And No Soba

We got non-soba noodles for the yakisoba we intended to make (see previous post). They weren't really the ones one is supposed to use (round egg noodles), but they were purchased at a Japanese store. That surely counts, doesn't it?

We kind of followed this recipe from someone who really misses real yakisoba he had in Japan, assuming it should be authentic. We were amazed to find out how much sugar this recipe calls for! And that's in addition to the oyster sauce where the main ingredients are water and sugar! No wonder the guy is addicted!
Anyway, it turned out really good! Despite the excess sugar, it's not as sweet as you'd expect.



We used a vegetable that was new to us, some Chinese cabbage that looks like this, and a new mushroom (again, new to us, not to science): brown beech mushroom. These mushrooms are SO cute! And lovely-tasting, too!

That's how we made it:

Cooked a package of Japanese noodles (they were of medium thickness and made of wheat, don't know how much was in the package), but not all the way - they're still supposed to be stir-fried.
In a large frying pan over medium heat heated and lightly fried:

• 1 T sesame oil
• 9.5 oz cubed firm tofu

When tofu was golden-brown on the outside, added:

• 1/2 green bell pepper, julienned
• 6-7 baby carrots, julienned
• sprinkle of salt
  

About 3 minutes of stirring later, added:

• One package (150 g) brown beech mushrooms, separated (YUMMY!)
• 3 Chinese cabbages, leaves cut diagonally

After about 3 minutes of stirring everything together I added about 3 T of the sauce I made ahead of time:

• 1 T (vegetarian) oyster sauce
• 4 T soy sauce
• 4 T sugar
• 1 T honey
• 1 T sesame oil
• 3 T mirin
• red pepper flakes, to taste
  

When the vegetable were nicely coated with the sauce, we added the cooked noodles and the rest of the sauce, and cooked for a couple more minutes.

MMM.... Yukisoba...