I was never good at cooking…so food was probably one of my parents’ worries when I decided to move out of the ‘ancestral’ (haha!) home to my own small sardine can apartment. They knew how I liked to gorge on Lucky Me pancit canton, even when there is something healthy to eat at home. I guess it was lucky that I have a boyfriend who despises too much instant food — I was forced to learn cooking little by little. So my baby steps finally led me to making bento and eventually taking learning how to cook simple dishes.
I admit I still cannot make Japanese yakisoba from scratch, and my work is taking up too much of my time so I do not have the luxury to try out more complicated stuff. So good thing I found that yakisoba packs actually came cheap, and that it is a no-brainer to make it. ^_^ Those are the main reasons why yakisoba is now a permanent mainstay of my pantry, hehe.
OK, so first, the yakisoba (left). This usually comes in packs of three. Three bags of noodles and 3 packs of sauce — each bag is good enough for 1 serving. The brands you will normally find in local supermarkets are Sanko and Miyakochi (sp?). They retail for about P150-P180 for a pack of 3 (but don’t buy at Rustan’s Fresh, they are too expensive!)
Anyway, here are the basic ingredients and steps to make quickie (hehe) yakisoba:
(For 1 serving)
Ingredients: 1. 1 pack yakisoba
2. veggies of choice, julienned – I used half an onion, 1 small carrot and half a green bell pepper
3. 1/4 kg of meat, cut into small cubes – I never use meat because I want to keep my yakisoba vegetarian ^_^
4. 1/4 cup water
5. cooking oil
焼きそばを作りましょう!(Let’s make yakisoba!)
できました!I don’t like the taste of benishioga though. So I just put Japanese mayo on mine. Heh, got the idea after watching Ikebukuro West Gate Park. I wanted to puke when Nagase Tomoya literally doused his yakisoba with Kewpie because I couldn’t imagine how that would taste. But IT’S GOOD!!!