Tasty Tuesday: Yaki Soba

A few months before I met my husband I went to visit my sister in Japan.  She was teaching English there to students.  It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed being with my sister in this culture she loved (and still loves) so much.  During my stay we enjoyed lots of different food:  ramen, a rotating sushi bar, gyoza/fried dumplings, homemade Chinese food from one of her friends,etc.

My sister has since returned home and shared a few recipes with us that we love.  Yaki Soba is one of our favorites.  It is so simple to make and only dirties one pan.  My kids ( 7 year old girls and a 3 year old boy) all enjoy it as well so I'd call it kid-friendly.

We use the entire package of Yaki Soba noodles in our recipe and it usually feeds 2-3 adults and our 3 kids.  You can usually find the noodles in the Asian area of your grocers produce or refrigerated area next to wanton wrappers, tofu and the like.  We also find our bag of shredded broccoli slaw in this area.  We originally used philly steak meat from the freezer section at Walmart but recently I've been using Steakums and find it works just as well and then I don't have to make a trip to Walmart for groceries.

Yaki Soba

1 package of Yaki Soba
1 package of broccoli slaw
1/2 package of Steakums
vegetable oil or oil of your choice
water

Directions
Heat about 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan.  Once the oil is hot then throw in your broccoli slaw and saute it until the slaw is slightly tender.  While the slaw is cooking open your package of yaki soba and pierce the individual packages you plan on using.  Remove the sauce packets and place them to the side.  Place the pierced yaki soba in the microwave for 1 minute.  Remove the noodles from the microwave and packaging and place into the pan with the broccoli slaw.

Next sprinkle the sauce packets over the top of the noodles.  Place 1 and 1/2 cups warm water into the pan over the top of the sauce.  Stir the slaw and noodles together being careful not to break the soft noodles.  This mixture should be simmering.  When the noodles and slaw are mixed together, push them to one side of your pan.  Allow the sauce to come to the empty side.

Break apart your frozen meat and place it into the bubbling sauce on the empty side.  Stir this side until the meat is browned.  Once the meat is cooked after a few minutes then mix all of the ingredients together.  Serve hot and enjoy.

We have served this with egg rolls on the side and more non-traditionally with kielbasa sausage or bread.  But generally we eat it on it's own.

We had some bread ends to use so we did buttered toast on the side this time.