Shio lemon yakisoba is a zingy, refreshing variation of classic Japanese yakisoba! Made with fresh shrimp, crunchy asparagus and stir fried noodles which are then drizzled with a tangy lemon sauce, this dish is quick and easy to make, as well as a delicious dish to enjoy in summer!
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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 wheat noodles and then stir-fry them with meat and vegetables.
Most yakisoba dishes are made with pork, but shio lemon yakisoba is a bit different. The zingy lemon perfectly compliments seafood in this dish! It also works well with chicken if you're not a seafood fan.
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, teppanyaki restaurants and 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 the one with sauce 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 a type of shio-yakisoba.
Lemon and Seafood Yakisoba
This yakisoba recipe contains:
- Shrimp (or any seafood you like)
- Beansprouts
- Cabbage
- Asparagus
- Spring onion
- Lemon based sauce
The sauce is drizzled over the yakisoba right at the end to make sure no flavour is lost during the cooking process!
HOW TO PREP PRAWNS
Prepping the shrimp is probably the most annoying thing about cooking them. If you're using fresh shrimp, I have 3 steps for you to follow.
STEP ONE: DESHELL
First, deshell. I find the easiest way is to rip the legs off first and then the shell just comes clean off. It's up to you whether to pull the tails off too, I usually leave them on for decoration and added crunch.
STEP TWO: DEVEIN
Next, remove the vein. The best way to do this is take a cocktail stick and pierce horizontally through the back of the prawn. You should be able to hook the vein and pull it straight out.
STEP THREE: CLEAN
Finally, coat the prawns in a couple of pinches of salt and 1 tsp of corn starch. Rub it over the surface of the prawns and once they're covered, wash them under cold water. The corn starch cleans them out while the salt helps draw out excess moisture which will make them cook better.
Watch how to make Shio-Lemon Yakisoba
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 dish!
Shio Lemon Seafood Yakisoba
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 portions 1x
Description
How to make "Shio Lemon Yakisoba", a refreshing and zingy twist on a traditional yakisoba recipe made with shrimp, asparagus and stir fried noodles.
Ingredients
Shio Yakisoba Sauce
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 1 dash soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sake
- ½ tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- Zest of half a lemon
- 1 tsp Chinese chicken stock powder
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion (green part)
Shrimp
- 200g fresh shrimp (frozen also works for this recipe)
- 1 tsp corn starch (for cleaning)
- 2 pinches of salt (for cleaning)
Beansprouts
- 100g beansprouts
- 1 bowl water
- a few pinches of salt
Shio Lemon Yakisoba
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 portions of chilled Chinese wheat noodles (approx 200g or 7oz) see note
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- 2 stalks asparagus
- 50g cabbage
- chopped spring onion to garnish
Instructions
- First, make the sauce. Take a small bowl and mix all of the sauce ingredients together. Set aside for later.
- Next, 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.
- Now prepare your shrimp, if you bought pre-cooked shrimp you can skip this step. But if you didn't, take a bowl and add your shrimp along with 1 tsp corn starch and 2 pinches of salt. Rub the starch and salt over the surface of the shrimp and then rinse them with cold water. Dry with a paper towel and set aside for later.
- Cut the asparagus and cabbage into bite-size pieces.
- Heat a large pan or wok on medium-high and add 1 tsp of sesame oil.
- Add the noodles to the pan and fry until lightly crispy on both sides.
- Transfer the noodles to a plate and set aside for later.
- In the same pan, add 1 more tsp of sesame oil. Add the shrimp and asparagus, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Fry until the shrimps are cooked through.
- Add the noodles back to the pan and mix them a little to help break them apart if they became stuck together.
- Push the noodles to one side to make space in the pan.
- In the space add the beansprouts. Lay the cabbage on top of the beansprouts and then move the noodles on to the top of the cabbage. The beansprouts will cook at the bottom of the pan while the cabbage steams in the middle.
- Move the shrimp and asparagus to the top of the noodles to stop them from burning.
- When the beansprouts and cabbage are slightly softened (about 2 minutes later) turn up the heat to high and drizzle the sauce over the top.
- Mix on the heat until well incorporated.
- Serve up and garnish with extra chopped spring onion!
- Enjoy!
Notes
Chilled noodles works best, but if you use dry noodles, use 100g and boil them a few minutes less than stated on the packaging. Drain the water and fry them as usual.
You can use any preferred seafood in this recipe. This dish also works well with chicken.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- 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, shio yakisoba, shio lemon yakisoba, yakisoba recipe, how to cook yakisoba, shio yakisoba recipe, seafood yakisoba recipe,
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