Yakisoba - Vegan

This is a Japanese noodle dish I grew up eating. My mother typically fixed it with thin slices of pork in it, but it's tasty enough that I can omit pork from it to make it vegan-friendly.

Well, the first thing you have to do is to find a package of Yakisoba noodles. They look like Chinese egg noodles but they're different... they don't contain any eggs; they wheat noodles. You can find it in the refrigerated section of any oriental grocery stores or sometimes in regular grocery stores. If you go to oriental grocery stores, you'll see several varieties, but this is the one I typically see in regular grocery store (I bought this one from Fred Meyer). Most of the packages come with seasoning sauce. How convenient!

What goes in your body (3-4 vegan servings) :

• One package of Yakisoba noodles (This one contains three sets of noodles and seasoning packages each.)
• 1/2 head of cabbage, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 bag of bean sprouts
• 1 bunch of green onions, sliced
• 3 carrots, thinly sliced
• Cooking oil 

You are going to:

1. In a large non-stick pan, heat a small amount of oil and cook carrots 2-3 minutes on medium heat.
2. Add cabbage and cook 2-3 minutes, then add bean sprouts and cook another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add Yakisoba noodle and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, loosening noodles as you fry. The moisture from the vegetables should help the noodles loosen, however, add a small amount of water if you find it hard to loosen the noodles. 
4. Add sauce packets and green onions to the pan, and cook till the vegetables are tender and sauce is evenly mixed into the noodle mix. 

Secrets from the chef:

• Tongs tend to break the noodles into small pieces, I found it much easier to use a pair of chopsticks to separate the noodles. The longer chopsticks designed for cooking can be purchased at oriental stores. (Regular chopsticks would work, but be careful not to burn your hand!) 
• You can use soybean sprouts (available at oriental grocery stores) instead of regular bean sprouts for more protein. 
• For your non-vegan friends, you can cook meat separately with a small amount of seasoning from the packet and add it to their plate. (This one has chicken.)

Bon appétit!