Vegetable yaki udon
Thick, chewy udon stir-fried with cabbage, carrot, mushrooms and onion in a sweet-savory soy and mirin sauce, a Japanese noodle dinner in 20 minutes.
- 20 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $2.78 a serving
- 420 calories
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 udon noodles
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- ½ yellow onion, sliced
- 1 carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
- 4 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups green cabbage, chopped
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1½ tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 420 calories, 10 g protein, 65 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $2.78 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 baby bella mushrooms? White mushrooms work.
- No green cabbage? Red cabbage or coleslaw mix 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, mirin, sugar and sesame oil together.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high heat. the onion and carrot 2 minutes, then the mushrooms 2 minutes, then the cabbage 2 minutes more, until .
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.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min
Add the udon and sauce and gently with tongs 2 minutes, until the noodles are glossy and hot.
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.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: Udon breaks if you stir too hard. Lift and turn with tongs instead.Serve topped with the green onions and of pepper flakes.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
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.
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