Pork yaki udon
Thick noodles, ground pork and a sauce built from four things already open.
At a Glance
Story
Separate the udon with your hands before it goes in the pan, not after. It comes vacuum-packed in a solid brick and it is only in the sauce for a minute or two, which is nowhere near long enough to work itself loose. Noodles that go in clumped come out clumped, with the sauce on the outside of the clump and nothing at all in the middle.
Ingredients
- 8 oz udon noodlesthe vacuum-packed kind
- 10 oz ground pork
- 1 bell pepperthinly sliced
- 2 scallionsthinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- neutral oilsalt, pepper
Method
Fifteen minutes, and most of that is slicing. Have the sauce mixed and the noodles pulled apart before the pan gets hot, because after that there is no pause in it.
- Stir the soy, oyster sauce, mirin and brown sugar together in a cup.
- Separate the udon strand by strand with your fingers. Take the minute. Leave them loose on a plate.
- Big high-sided pan, a drizzle of oil, medium-high. The pork, seasoned, 5 to 6 minutes, breaking it up as it browns. Drain off the fat if there is a lot of it.
- Peppers and the white parts of the scallions, seasoned, 2 to 3 minutes, until they give slightly and the pork is cooked through.
- Noodles, the sauce, a splash of water and as much of the pepper flakes as you fancy. 1 to 2 minutes, tossing constantly, until everything is glossy and hot. Taste and season.
- Sesame seeds and the scallion greens.
The sauce should coat rather than pool. If there is liquid sitting in the pan, another thirty seconds over the heat will fix it.
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