I can cook Yakisoba

After spending two weeks this year and two weeks last year in the company of Japanese women who know how to make a feast out of noodles, a couple of hot dogs, a tomato and some soy sauce (this is a slight exaggeration...) I decided to add Japanese cooking to my very limited menu of things I can cook besides frozen pizza. Tonight was an adventure in making Yakisoba (actually not very hard but definitely Japanese...)

It helps that I found soba noodles and yaki sauce mix (it's pretty much a powder), in my grocery store (look near the tofu!). Soba noodles are cooked yellow noodles that are fat in the beginning and then get thin at the end of the recipe.


First:
I cut up some bell pepper, green onion, and this handy mix of cabbage and sprouts that I found in the bagged salad section. I think it's for things like cole slaw. And now, it's for things like yakisoba! Anyway, I added just a little oil and started stirring in a regular pot. I don't have a fancy wok and I didn't see one in the church I stayed at in Japan so I'm wondering if a wok is even necessary.
















A photo of the fancy cooking chop sticks I used to stir the meal. I was pretty proud of this.















And then I remembered the beef that I was supposed to cut up and add to the veggie mix! My mentor, Chieko, who taught me how to make this in a different way than the instructions on the soba package, said stir the veggies and meat until the meat is cooked. I think I should add that I did this on medium heat so as not to burn anything.
















Next I added the soba noodles. The package said to remove the veggies. Chieko said just put the noodles on top. I watched and took notes and decided to do it her way.















The package of noodles looks like this by the way:















The package said to add the sauce to the noodles with some water. Chieko said to add the mix at the very end. I got excited and added the mix right away.

















So, I added 1/2 cup of water, the noodles and the sauce mix. And then I covered and simmered for 5 minutes before stirring to make sure the mix was evenly spread over the noodles and veggies. Note that my pot doesn't have a lid. I used our pizza tray.















And then I plated it! Dennis said it was pretty good, it was what I expected! (Kind of like a chinese noodle/broccoli beef type flavor except not as greasy as the chinese restaurant noodles and no broccoli.
















So I count this one as a success!!