Black pepper udon
Thick udon tossed with onions and peppers in a buttery, sticky sauce loaded with cracked black pepper, bold, warming and ready in 20 minutes.
- 20 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.19 a serving
- 440 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 udon noodles
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- ½ red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1½ tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
Each serving has about 440 calories, 10 g protein, 69 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $3.19 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring a pot of water over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Add the udon and cook 1 to 2 minutes, just until the noodles loosen apart.
High heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Stir the soy sauce, hoisin, brown sugar, cornstarch and 3 tablespoons water together.
Heat the oil in a large over high heat. Add the onion and peppers and 3 minutes, until and in spots.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Tender-crisp. Tender-crisp means vegetables cooked until just tender but still with a little snap. They keep their bright color and crunch instead of going soft and dull.
How you’ll know: A fork goes in with slight resistance, and the color is bright, not olive or gray.
Char. Charring means cooking over very high heat until some spots turn black. Those dark spots add a smoky, slightly bitter flavor that balances sweet or rich food.
How you’ll know: You see black spots and blisters in places, while most of the surface keeps its own color.
High heatTimer: 3 min
Add the butter, garlic and black pepper and stir 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
High heat
Dolly’s tip: Toasting the pepper in butter is what makes it bold instead of just hot. Freshly cracked pepper makes a big difference here.Add the udon and sauce and gently 2 minutes, until thick and glossy. Serve with the green onions.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
High heatTimer: 2 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
