Gourmet Traveller's Japanese Yaki Udon with Pork & Mushroom

 Yaki udon is a stir-fried izakaya-style noodle dish you can find across Japan. I altered this recipe to have dry shiitake mushrooms which I soaked for an hour before cooking. 

As well as the seaweed sheet crumbled on top, I like to also add togarashi for a bit of spice. 

This recipe has been altered to serve 2.

Ingredients  

• 400g dried thick udon noodles

• 40g butter

• ½ onion, thinly sliced

• 100g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked

• 100g enoki and maitake mushrooms

• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 1 nori sheet

Marinated pork

• 2 pork rashers, approximately 120g each, thinly sliced

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Method

1. For marinated pork, combine all the marinade ingredients and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, prepare your udon noodles as per the packet instructions. Drain well and rinse.

3. This recipe ideally needs to use a wok, but if you don’t have one a large frying pan will do. Heat the wok over high heat, and when it is hot add the butter. Once nearly melted, add the onions and make sure you continually stir, so it doesn’t stick and burn. Once it has turned golden and is fragrant, scatter the pork evenly. Do not stir, and after 1 minute using a metal spatula, turn the meat to cook for an additional 1 minute. You don’t want the meat to fully cook at this stage. Add the mushrooms to the wok and mix to combine, After 2-3 minutes, the mushrooms should have wilted. Remove all the contents of the wok and set aside

4. Now, add the noodles to the wok and continually flip with your spatula so they do not stick, about 1 minute, This seals the noodles so they don’t come out claggy. Now add in the oil and soy sauce, tossing to mix. Add the pork mixture back into the wok and mix to combine. Distribute between bowls and sprinkle with nori sheets and togarashi.