Yakisoba
Yakisoba (焼きそば), literally "fried noodles", is a dish often sold at festivals in Japan, but originates in China. The dish was derived by the Chinese from the traditional chow mein, but has been more heavily integrated into Japanese cuisine like ramen. Even though soba (Japanese Noodles made from Buckwheat) is part of the word, yakisoba noodles are not made from buckwheat, but are similar to ramen noodles and made from wheat flour.
Yakisoba usually refers to sōsu yakisoba, flavored with yakisoba sauce.
It is prepared by stir-frying ramen-style noodles with bite-sized pork, vegetables (usually cabbage, onions or carrots) and flavoured with yakisoba sauce, salt and pepper. It is served with a multitude of garnishes, such as aonori (seaweed powder), beni shoga (shredded pickled ginger), katsuobushi (fish flakes), and Japanese mayonnaise.
Yakisoba is most familiarly served on a plate either as a main dish or a side dish. Another popular way to prepare and serve yakisoba in Japan is to pile the noodles into a bun sliced down the middle in the style of a hot dog, and garnish the top with mayonnaise and shreds of pickled ginger. Called yakisoba-pan, pan meaning bread, it is commonly available at local matsuri (Japanese festivals) or conbini (convenience stores).
Sometimes, Japanese white Udon is used as a replacement of Chinese style Soba and called Yakiudon. This variation was started in Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Yakisoba is served widely across military bases around the world, and daily at Camp Hansen, a Marine Corps base in Okinawa, Japan, and weekly at Kunsan AB, an airbase in the Republic of Korea. It has become a favored dish among the U.S. Military across the world.
Instant yakisoba
Instant yakisoba, such as "UFO", is commonly sold in Japanese supermarkets (and in China). It can be prepared simply by adding boiling water.
The Sapporo Ichiban ramen company has long made a variety of instant "yakisoba," which is composed of dehydrated ramen noodles, dried seaweed and a flavor pack which resembles the sauce on real yakisoba. The noodles are rehydrated like regular ramen, then stir fried with the flavor packet, shredded Japanese cabbage and meat and served with the seaweed sprinkled on top. There is also now a variety of this instant yakisoba available in the US made by Maruchan, a popular instant ramen company. The dish features dehydrated vegetables such as carrots, corn, onions, and cabbage, as well as dehydrated instant ramen.
Also, the company Nissin sells yakisoba in Germany. It is called "Yakisoba Deluxe". The composition is similar to the instant ramen of Sapporo Ichiban. It gets prepared by putting 250ml water in a frying pan, boiling it and adding the noodles and vegetables (both dehydrated). Then, let the noodles soften for a minute or two, and add the sauce (which is not dehydrated), then cooking it until there's no more fluid left.
UFO instant "yakisoba" has a unique method of preparation. The foil lid of the shallow square container is meant to be pulled back one one end, from which you extract packets of aonori and sauce. After adding boiling water to the dehydrated noodles and bits of cabbage and meat and allowing to sit, you lift another side of the foil, revealing draining holes that will allow water to pass through, but nothing else. This leaves you with relatively dry noodles, a fairly close approximation to true yakisoba via an instant method.
External links
- Photo of instant yakisoba
- Photo of yakisoba being stir-fried
- Video of cooking home-made vegetable and shrimp yakisoba
