What is Yakisoba?
What do you think of when you hear the word "Soba"?
Most people might think of Japanese soba noodles, but with Yakisoba (焼きそば), you don't use soba noodles at all! Instead, you use Chinese egg noodles and then stir-fry it.
The History of Yakisoba
As some of you may know, Yakisoba is a classic Japanese street food.
It's been said that Yakisoba was served during the 30's in Tokyo, so it has a pretty long history.
Because it's easy to make it outside, Yakisoba is often served at outdoor occasions such as festivals, sports day, fireworks festivals, cherry blossom festivals as well as being made at home and at casual diners.
Traditionally, Yakisoba is cooked with Worcestershire sauce (ソース焼きそば) but these days simply cooking with salt and pepper (塩焼きそば or Shio-yakisoba) is popular too.
Japanese people love instant Yakisoba as occasional quick naughty meal too.
Not only that, but different regions have started their own spin-offs of Yakisoba and even compete nationwide as a B-class gourmet (B級グルメ). B-class gourmet are down to earth dishes that use inexpensive ingredients but taste absolutely delicious!
Sauce-Yakisoba VS Shio Yakisoba
As I said earlier, there are two kinds of yakisoba roughly, Sauce-Yakisoba (ソース焼きそば) and Shio-Yakisoba (塩焼きそば)
I’d have to say saucy one is probably the "traditional form" that you see at most places like festivals but salt and pepper yakisoba is equally popular especially for home cooking! and today's recipe is the Shio-Yakisoba one!
Lemon and Seafood Yakisoba
This yakisoba recipe contains:
- Scallops & Prawns (or any seafood you like)
- Beansprouts
- Asparagus
- Spring onion
- Lemon
Seafood definitely goes better with Shio-yakisoba than Sauce-yakisoba! and with lemon? It's a whole different world! If you like refreshing option, I definitely recommend this one!
Shio Lemon Seafood Yakisoba
- Prep Time: 7 mins
- Cook Time: 8 mins
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 portions 1x
Description
How to make refreshing shio lemon seafood yakisoba
Ingredients
- 50g Scallops
- 150g Fresh prawns
- 1 tbsp Sake/White wine (optional)
- 2 tbsp Corn starch (optional)
- 100g Beansprouts
- 2 Whole asparagus
- 2 tbsp Chopped spring onion
- 300g Ready to cook egg noodles
- ½ lemon (juice and zest) plus an extra slice to garnish
- 1 tsp Chicken stock powder
- 1 tsp Garlic paste
- 2 tsp Olive oil
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 pinch Pepper
- 30ml and 2 tbsp cold water
Instructions
- First, put 100g of beansprouts into a bowl. Fill the bowl with water until the beansprouts are covered, add a sprinkle of salt and leave to soak.
- Next prepare your prawns, if you bought pre-cooked prawns you can skip this step. Devein the prawns with a sharp knife and put them in a bowl with 2 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp water. Cover all the prawns and then rinse them off thoroughly. Return them to the bowl and add 1 tbsp of sake or white wine, set aside until it's time to cook.
- Cut the asparagus into bite-size pieces.
- Heat a frying pan on medium high and drizzle in 2 tsp of olive oil.
- Once hot, add the asparagus.
- Drain the water from the beansprouts and add them to the pan with the asparagus.
- Cook them for a minute or so, then add the prawns and scallops to the pan.
- Add 1 tsp of chicken stock powder and 1 tsp garlic paste to the pan and mix.
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the noodles and 30ml of water to the pan. Squeeze in the juice of ½ a lemon, you can grate some zest into the noodles for extra zing.
- Turn up the heat to high and keep stir frying until the water is evaporated.
- Serve up with an extra slice of lemon on the side.
- Enjoy!
Notes
You can use any preferred seafood in this recipe. You can also use chicken if you like.
- Category: Noodles
- Method: Stir fry
- Cuisine: Japanese
Keywords: Japanese yakisoba recipe, Japanese stirfry, Japanese stir fry, Seafood yakisoba, Prawn yakisoba, Shrimp yakisoba, Lemon yakisoba,salt and pepper yakisoba,no meat yakisoba
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