[Light yet deep] Yaki Udon using Amazake
Yaki udon with a sauce flavor is irresistibly delicious. Sometimes you just get an uncontrollable craving for that sauce flavor, don't you? Still, I wanted to explore delicious ways to eat it other than with sauce, so I previously made yaki udon using shio koji (salted rice malt). It was quite delicious, and I felt the potential in the combination of koji and yaki udon.
This time, I tried making it using amazake.
It has a depth that sauce doesn't have... it's light yet has a solid richness. I'm quite confident in this... and I think everyone will like it.
Having recipes not just for sauce flavor, but also for shio koji flavor and this amazake version in your repertoire is really handy for times like when you're having lunch alone.
Please give it a try!
This is delicious! Simple but deep in flavor
I've been using amazake and shio koji in my daily life for a long time now, but I still feel there are many more delicious combinations out there.
It's true that making your own fermented seasonings takes more effort than everyday cooking, so it might be a hassle, but keeping them on hand really makes cooking easier. Just using fermented seasonings makes a dish feel somehow special and a cut above the rest.
Doesn't the name "Shio Koji Yaki Soba" pique your interest more than just "Salt Yaki Soba," making you think, "Hmm? What's that?" It makes you excited to see what it tastes like even before you eat it. Motivation for eating is also important.
If you keep amazake on hand, you can use it quite a bit as a sugar substitute, not just for drinking. Hmm, there are times when I think, "It's definitely better to use sugar here..." but conversely, there are often times when using amazake makes it more delicious with a gentle sweetness. Exploring delicious combinations like an experiment is also fun.
A menu perfect for a solo lunch like this yaki udon also provides a different flavor than usual. It's quite fun.
Ingredients (for 1 person)
Udon noodles: 1 pack
Pork offcuts: 100g
Carrot: 1/8 piece
Green pepper: 1 piece
Onion: 1/8 piece
Salt and pepper: a little
Cooking oil: 2 tsp
⚫︎Sauce
Soy sauce: 1 tbsp
Sake: 1 tbsp
Amazake: 1 tbsp
Garlic koji: 1 tsp
Sesame oil: 1/2 tsp
Sprinkle with aonori or bonito flakes if you like
↓ I really want you to try making it starting from the amazake.
How to make
1 Cut the carrot into strips, the green pepper into thin strips, and the onion into wedges
2 Mix the sauce ingredients together
3 Heat the oil and stir-fry the carrot and onion
4 Once they are soft, add the pork offcuts, season with salt and pepper, and stir-fry
5 When the pork is mostly cooked through, make space, add the udon noodles, and place the green pepper on top of the noodles
6 Pour in the sauce, cover with a lid, and leave on low heat for 1 minute. After 1 minute, mix everything together
7 Cover with the lid again and leave for 1 minute, then turn up the heat and stir-fry to evaporate the moisture
↓ I also explain the steps in a video on Instagram
Recipe points
Separate the timing of adding ingredients
Steam-cook the noodles
Separate the timing of adding ingredients
You could just throw all the ingredients in and stir-fry them together, but a little bit of care can really change the deliciousness.
I first stir-fry the carrots, which are hard to cook through, and the onions, which I want to finish soft and tender, then add the pork at a different time to prevent it from getting tough. Since I want to keep the texture of the green peppers, I added them at the end, more like steaming them than stir-frying.
Steam-fry the noodles
The noodles tend to stick together quite a bit, so steaming them for a little while makes them easier to separate. I think adding water is also fine, but I don't like them getting soggy, so I always make them using a method that avoids adding water as much as possible.