by chucky roberts

Created on: March 15, 2007   Last Updated: May 04, 2007

Yakisoba is a Japanese fried noodle dish. It's not to be confused with soba, which is buckwheat noodles and tastes much more plain in comparison. I made this mistake once at a restaurant and was very disappointed. Not that the soba was bad, but I wanted yakisoba. Yakisoba is more flavorful. I'd never thought about it before, but I've read that yakisoba is like junk food in Japan.

The noodles in Yakisoba are stir fried with vegetables and meat(or tofu), but the key is the sauce. Some people use tonkatsu sauce, which is made from fruits and vegetables and caramel and, of course, tastes very sweet. There is a Bulldog brand that makes this sauce and, if you look around, you can find it on the Net. However, if you're the more adventurous type, there's a yakisoba recipe at the bottom of this page and you can make your own.

Tragically, since leaving Japan behind, I've never been able to find authentic-tasting yakisoba. I don't know if it can even be made in the United Kingdom or USA. You can get close, but no cigar. I half-jokingly tell people I'd like to go back to that same greasy spoon across and do an internship under the master. But even if that's not possible, I'm counting the days until I can return to the Land of the Rising Sun and have another bowl. And another. And another

YAKISOBA RECIPE
Whenever I reminisce about my days in Japan, thoughts of yakisoba are never far behind. Yakisoba is basically a stir-fried noodle dish, and it's my favorite Japanese meal of all time. Although I've never had much yakisoba here that can compare with yakisoba in Japan, the following recipe, sent to me by a friend in Japan, is still fantastic. Give it a try. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Yakisoba recipe, I have tried making the yakisoba sauce based on the available sauces that are available in the USA and UK. In my opinion, nothing can beat the great taste of the yakisoba sauce that can be purchased in Japan, but I think we can get closed to it by blending a few different ingredients such as Oyster sauce (1/2 tablespoon), Soy Sauce (1-2 tablespoon), Sugar (4-5 tablespoon or so), Mirin (if you have any, 1TBS), Sake (1/2 table spoon), honey (1 table spoon), sesame oil (1 tablespoon) and a sprinkle of red hot pepper flakes.

Also, the noodles, the yakisoba noodles are made with eggs, so the Chinese egg noodles (rather flat instead of round cut) that we can buy in North America does not quite give you the same yakisoba experience, but that is the one that is most closed

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