Yakisoba - that familiar and delicious festival food made easy

Ever go to a community festival and smell the yummy aromas of the booth that makes that vegetable-meat-noodle stir fry? Ever buy a plate and devour every bite wondering about the exotic secrets behind such a seemingly simple dish. Well, I’ve discovered the exotic secrets aren't so exotic and the dish is very easy – the trick is two ingredients that might not be found in your local supermarket.

My husband has discovered a little hole-in-the-wall place, Eastlake Teryaki. It's mainly takeout, and despite the name, serves great Vietnamese type dishes. Their Pho’, a yummy broth with noodles, julliened meat and other goodies served on the side to be added now rivals tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches when he doesn’t feel well. It has replaced the War Wonton Soup (wonton soup with shrimp and pork and all kinds of mushrooms and vegetables swimming in it) we used to get from the Uptown China in Seattle's Lower Queen Anne. Another dish we've enjoyed from Eastlake Teryaki is Yakisoba. Now we’re back to the yummy noodle vegetable stir fry you’ve enjoyed at those festivals.

I happened to be wandering through a Vietnamese supermarket the other day. (An unusual appointment took me to a new part of town.) It was fun especially since I’m interested in Indian cuisine. Indian’s make things with rice flour and tapioca flour and small bags of it were available right along with the regular flour. They had fresh ginger in bundles precut into 2” pieces (I bought a bunch and froze). In the dry noodle section I found inexpensive good sized packages of the bean threads that I use in the Korean dish that I now fix once in a while. In the wet noodle section (there is a joke there somewhere) I came across “Yakisoba Noodles”. Right there on the package was a recipe for the dish and it looked awfully simple so I bought a package. As it turned out, the “secret sauce” isn’t so secret or hard to find, in fact it was one that Hank uses for other things periodically and had brought home from Uwajimaya sometime back. It’s called Tonkatsu or Fruit and Vegetable Sauce. It’s kind of the consistency of dark Karo but denser.

Now, in possession of the noodles and the sauce, the time was right when I found myself with numerous errant vegetables that needed using. So, yesterday I began julienning, first carrots, then a little broccoli and cauliflower, then a bunch of green onions, then a sweet onion (sliced very thin) and finally about a quarter of a green cabbage. I definitely had the 3 cups of vegetables that the recipe asked for. I was so happy, using up the veges that would have gone bad and learning to make this yummy festival dish (plus learning to save the $8 the Vietnamese place charges for it.)

Here’s the recipe. (It makes a large amount so this is where my friend, Deb Taylor Hough's "cook ahead and freeze" concept is great. I had Zip Locks on hand and now have easy lunches or yummy noodle sides for dinner, plus I shared some with a neighbor.)

Yakisoba
Can be made vegetarian the way it is often served at festivals. You can add left over meat or juilianne some meat and fry it.
Ingrendients
Meat cut into small pieces and fried (I had baked a chicken so just put chicken pieces on the plates of noodles when served.)
32oz (2lb.) bag of fresh Yakisoba noodles (they can be kept refrigerated or frozen)
3 cups of julianned vegetables
½ cup Tonkatsu Sauce (also called Vegetable and Fruit Sauce on the bottle I have)
½ to 1 cup water.
Vegetable oil for frying

Instructions
Fry meat and set aside. Heat oil in the pan to high for stir frying the vegetables. Add vegetables and stir fry until tender. Place the noodles on top of the vegetables and add water to steam, heat and loosen noodles. When they are loosened begin stir frying them with the vegetables and add the meat and Tonkatsu Sauce. Stir fry until all ingredients are blended and hot.

A Lesson on Simplifying Indian Cuisine from an American Gal who isn’t even a cook!

For over four years I’ve enjoyed a serious hobby, cooking Indian cuisine. It happened because I made some special friends through my Dad's senior center, Mina, Doris and Sheila, who all grew up and spent many years in India before coming to America. Before that, cooking was never a creative endeavor for me; my husband (who finds it creative) did most of it. Sort of like math, I never really “got” the underlying principles of cooking and was always intimidated trying to “fly by the seat of the pants”. You’d see me shopping for ingredients, recipe in hand.

But, I’m a curious sort. I became intrigued by the dishes my friends introduced me to when we’d enjoy lunch at an Indian restaurant, I’d query them, interested in understanding more about Indian culture and food. Mina suggested that I buy ingredients for certain recipes and come over. Together we’d make some traditional Indian dishes. Numerous afternoons while enjoying tea, we’d construct exotically aromatic, tantalizing dishes that she’d made for years. They opened a new world for me. Under her tutelage I began to understand some of the “underlying principles” or alchemy that had eluded me with American cuisine.

Making Indian dishes is now, for me, an exciting and very creative endeavor. Some weekend mornings I almost need my Indian food “fix” both the creating it and eating it. I often share my concoctions with neighbors and friends. They are often amazed at how delicious is something that, had they looked at the recipe, they may never have tried. There are certain ingredients such as Mina's favorite, Patak's brand mild curry paste, that even my husband has incorporated into some of the dishes he makes. (He uses it not for an overt curry taste but for adding an interesting dimension to things like spaghetti sauce.) And he really enjoys certain dishes like White Fish Simmered in Coconut Milk with Onions and Spices.

Off and on in this blog I’ve shared some of the Indian recipes I’ve tried. I thought that maybe some readers might enjoy some of the things I’ve learned about how to simplify Indian cuisine. My friends have shared quick tips for creating the same taste with less work. I am in no way an expert, but I am a novice American cook who is not intimidated by Indian food and spices. I’ve learned some easy to fix dishes that have flavors that would “knock the socks off” your friends if served. I’ve learned dishes that every single American friend “who thought they weren’t fond of Indian food” has loved. I’ve learned how to blend simple, frugal ingredients (Indians do amazing things with vegetables) into dishes with a sophisticated dimension.

So, blog readers, here is a first “Lesson” I hope might unlock for you some “secrets” of Indian cuisine, show you how simple it can be and maybe encourage you to expand your cooking repertoire

Recipes for Indian dishes can look complicated but there is a fairly simple, underlying process that exists in many recipes.

In recipes for many meat or vegetable based dishes you will see a triad of Ginger-Onion-Garlic. This triad is fried up and into it goes the spices being used, then into that goes the main ingredients. (I'm going to illustrate that using the recipe below.)

I get an online newsletter from About.com column on Indian Cooking (Here’s a link to sign up or look at it - http://indianfood.about.com/od/thebasics/a/regionfood.htm

I came across the recipe shown below. The basic food ingredients here are potatoes and peas. (Talk about an interesting way to use frugal ingredients that are on hand in most kitchens).

Basically they've got hot oil going into which they brown some cumin seeds and green chili chunks.
Then they dump in and fry the Ginger-Onion-Garlic triad
Into that they dump all the spices (measured out ahead) and diced tomato. (In this recipe, diced tomato adds more substance and dimension to the triad) and simmer till blended.
Then they add the potatoes and peas and simmer till done.

Basically it's TRIAD + SPICES + MAIN INGREDIENTS

Indian spices do not exist in most American cupboards (the only one I remember was a bottle of curry powder that sat in our spice cupboard never used, I’m sure, the entire time I was growing up) and the tastes may be unfamiliar at first, but we American cooks can learn from their process. And, if desired, natural food markets that sell spices in bulk often have most of the spices called for in Indian dishes. Also, if you don't have certain called for spices (in the recipe below you'd have to get dry mango powder at an Indian market) just leave it out. And remember, the "finely chopped coriander is cilantro.

Below the recipe is a very simple American twist (no Indian spices) take on this recipe. I just made it and it's delicious.

Aaloo Mutter
from www.about.com column on Indian cuisine
(The gal that writes the newsletter made a spelling error i the fourth line of the Preparation that I got a kick out of so left in. )

Ingredients:
· 2 tbsps vegetable/sunflower/canola oil
· 1 tsp cumin seeds
· 2 green chillies slit (use mild chilis or omit if hot isn't desired)
· 1 large onion diced
· 1 tsp grated fresh ginger (sold fresh or already grated in jars in produce sections)
· 1 tsp crushed garlic
· 2 large tomatoes diced
· 2 tsps coriander powder
· 1 tsp cumin powder
· 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
· 1 tsp red chilli powder
· 1 tsp dry mango powder
· 5-6 large potatoes peeled cut into 8-10 pieces each
· 1 cup shelled peas (you can use frozen peas as well)
· 1 tsp garam masala
· Salt to taste
· 2 tbsps of finely chopped coriander to garnish
(I have found that adding a can of chicken broth is good, added half after adding the potatoes and peas and as much of the other half that you like toward the end of cooking for desired moistness.)

Preparation:
· In a wok/pressure cooker heat the oil and add the cumin seeds to it when hot. They will sizzle and soon turn slightly darker.
· Add the green chillies and when they stop sluttering add the onions.
· Sauté the onions till they turn soft. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and sauté for another minute.
· Add the tomatoes, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric, red chilli and raw mango powders and sauté for a minute.
· Last of all add the potatoes and peas and half a cup of water (this is where I add 1/2 can chicken broth instead of water) Add salt to taste.
· Cover the pan and cook till the potatoes are soft adding as much of the rest of the chicken broth as desired.
· When the potatoes are cooked, turn off the fire, sprinkle the garam masala over the dish and cover immediately.
· In a few minutes open, garnish with the finely chopped coriander leaves and serve.
· If you are using a pressure cooker, time the cooking such that the potatoes do not get mashed.

Aaloo Mutter American Style

A very simple American twist on this recipe would be to fry up the triad (I had 1/2 large onion, 1 teas. crushed garlic, 1" piece grated ginger) then add any spices you like or just salt and pepper (I added Johnny's Seasoning salt and a tiny bit of chili powder for zing) along with some diced tomatoes (I used a chopped tomato I had on hand) then add the chopped potatoes (I used 2 Russet) and peas (I used frozen and I added 1/2 can of chicken broth at first and the other half after it had cooked down a bit on 300 degrees in an electric frying pan) cook till done. If you are unfamiliar with using fresh ginger, it won't be an overt taste, just an interesting back taste.

It was a delicious potato dish by itself, then I got carried away and added some teryaki steak and green pepper chunks (already cooked; left over from fajitas.) Voila! A simple hash style dish with dimension.

Amazing Left Over Veges Indian Style

One thing I’ve appreciated about Indian cuisine is how creatively vegetables are used. I could never imagine how vegetarians got much variety until I began to enjoy the rich variety and complex tastes of vegetable dishes created with Indian spices. One day I had some carrots and celery that I needed to use. I took a look through my repertoire of Indian recipes and actually figured this one out on my own. PCC stores have the needed spices, Garam Masala, cumin powder and chili powder, in bulk so you can buy just the amount you need inexpensively. Get your fresh ginger at a supermarket. If you don’t want to grate the ginger, most large supermarkets have small jars of already grated ginger in the produce section along side jars of already crushed garlic. When you prepare this dish, the aroma and the taste do things to carrots and celery you won’t imagine. My boat dock neighbors love it when I fix Indian dishes and often “stop by” to check out how things are going.

Amazing Left Over Veges Indian Style

4 carrots sliced into ¼’ rounds
2 celery stalks sliced diagonally
1 small tomato, coarsely chopped (I used a Roma tomato)
½ medium onion chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed or ½ teas. from jar
1” to 1 ½” fresh ginger grated, or ½ teas. from jar
½ teaspoon Garam Masala
½ teas. cumin powder
¼ teas chili powder

Steam carrots or place covered by water in a microwave for about 6 minutes.

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil and a little butter in a frying pan. Add onion and celery and fry till onion turns translucent. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 1 minute making sure they don’t burn. Add spices and mix well. Add carrots and continue to stir fry until all are coated and flavorful.

You can substitute different vegetables for the celery and carrots. And, a cooking tip: You can freeze chunks of fresh ginger for very easy peeling and grating when you need them.