Curry Yakisoba
Curry Yakisoba is stir-fried noodles flavored with curry powder. The spicy curry aroma stimulates the appetite at any moment. Here, beef is used as protein in the dish, but it can be easily replaced with chicken or pork. And that’s the same for the vegetables. Cabbage, broccoli, and onions work very well too. Curry Yakisoba is a great simple lunch perfect for one or two people. Or multiply the recipe, and make this as dinner to serve the entire family!
Video
Ingredients
- 1/2 carrot (small)
- 2 Piman (or 1/2 green pepper)
- 5 oz beef (thinly sliced)
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 2 cup bean sprouts
- 2 pkgs Chuka Men (Chinese style noodles)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp Mirin
- 1 Tbsp curry powder
- Aonori dried green seaweed (optional)
Instructions
- Cut carrot into thin matchsticks. Slice Piman or bell pepper thinly. Cut beef into thin strips.
- In a wok or frying pan, heat oil at medium hight heat. Stir-fry beef until lightly browned. Add carrot and Piman and cook for a minute. Add bean sprouts, noodles, and water. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Loosen the noodles, and season with the rest of the ingredients. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with Aonori if you like.
The first time I ever dealt with yakisoba, I spent an entire day cooking a vegan version of it at an anime festival. Usually when I have to cook that much of something that long, I hate the dish for years afterwards. But, before I left, I made a final batch for my husband and me and we ate it on the way to the car, LOL. All day I had to smell that and not eat it, and I was STARVED for it by the end of the day.
For the festival, we did it on the cheap, though: Noodles with the seasoning, and then cabbage and carrots and onions, stir fried in oil. We were trying to make money and get people served fast, so that was the best solution.
I loved the yakisoba so much despite the cheapie method that I decided to make it at home, but from scratch, rather than with the sodium bomb packaged seasoning. I knew something was missing from other recipes, and you found it: Curry. It makes all the difference!
We’ve made it with tofu, beef, chicken, pork and pork belly. I think I like the pork belly best. We make sure to cook the meat in the soy, mirin, and curry, then we put on more with the noodles & veg. Really amps the flavour. When we’re in a hurry, we use the coleslaw base at the supermarket for our veg, No need to chop up the carrots or celery. We always have onions chopped up in the fridge, so we toss those in as well. But lots of veg works in it–bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms…
It’s a really versatile dish that’s healthy, but will get on the table fast. Makes it perfect for busy days and our long season of heat here in Texas (at least four months of the year), when it’s too hot to stay in the kitchen long. I’ll go so far as to call it the perfect summer dish.