Ankake Yakisoba (stir-fried noodle w/sweet & sour sauce)
I added chicken balls, frozen leftover from Teriyaki Tori-dango Don to make this one-dish-dinner substantial. I also used two little red chili peppers that J harvested a few weeks ago to give this dish a little kick. Yes, I just wanted to have a "little" kick, so I made it sure that I removed all seeds from those peppers.
I like sweet and sour sauce with a good amount of rice vinegar and fresh ginger. Also I like adding floral fragrant of white pepper to the sauce. This sauce could be used for various dishes such as pan-fried fish, Tofu, omelet, etc.
I knew we just had had a noodle dish at our friends' place, but again here was noodle. We are noodle lovers.
Ankake Yakisoba
SERVES 2
2-3 pack egg noodle (I used steamed egg noodles made especially for Yakisoba)
2 dried red chili peppers, without seeds
1/2 onion, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
handful of dried Shiitake mushroom, soften in water, sliced (reserve mushroom-soaking liquid)
3 scallion, sliced
some cooked chicken balls, defrosted, pan-fried
For Ankake (sweet and sour sauce)
1 tbs sugar (or Splenda)
2 1/2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs Sake
2 tbs low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbs Japanese powdered chicken soup
1 tbs grated fresh ginger
2 tbs corn starch dissolved in 2 tbs water
some ground black pepper
some ground white pepper
1. In a large non-stick pan, cook red chili peppers with 1 tbs vegetable oil over low heat for 1-2 min
2. Stir in onion, carrot, and Shiitake; cook until soften
3. Mix all ingredients for Ankake in a small bowl, pour in the non-stick pan
4. Stir in noodle, scallions, and chicken balls; mix gently to coat noodle with sauce; adjust thickness of the sauce by adding reserved mushroom-soaking liquid
