Umi Yakisoba Noodle Recipes
“This combines three of my favorite things, latkes, bagels and crispy crunchy noodles. When I first cooked Umi Organic's yakisoba noodles I was blown away by how incredibly crispy and delicious the noodles were and I really wanted to highlight that!”
Of course, lo mein using our yakisoba noodles! Lo mein—soy-forward stir-fried noodles—descends from Chinese cuisine but has become a distinctly Chinese-American dish. This is such a quick and delicious meal, very kid friendly, and a great template for all kinds of greens! it wouldn’t be unheard of to eat this with a side of wontons!
Kourtney Paranteau never stopped loving the “Asian-inspired” chicken salads that filled chain restaurant menus of her youth, even if she was embarrassed to admit it, but as she got older she realized she could make an even better version. Here is her take in this classic, with preserved kumquats replacing sad tangerine segments, a silken miso dressing rather than sticky and sweet one, and deep fried Umi yakisoba noodles for irresistible crunch.
“I love the versatility of yakisoba. When I was growing up, my mom prepared yakisoba using pork, carrots, cabbage, onions, and bean sprouts. Since I live in Portland where we have access to a wide variety of vegetables on a year-round basis, I use whatever seasonal vegetables I have on hand for my yakisoba. I always aim for at least 5 colors in all of my meals and yakisoba makes it easy to achieve my goal.”
Okonomiyaki means “pancakes as you like them” and this is how Stacey Givens, chef extraordinaire of the Side Yard Farm & Kitchen likes hers. This is a true taste of Pacific Northwest farm as summer blurs into fall. And the ground cherry sauce is ridiculous!
Yakisoba-pan was born in the 1950s, at the equivalent of a Japanese diner where bread had become a common yakisoba side dish to sop up the rich, glistening sauce. It takes the chewy savory noodles and tucks them into a milk bun known as koppe-pan that looks deceptively like a hotdog bun. Jane Hashimawari of Ippaipdx shared her recipes for one of the greatest after-school snacks of all time!
Traditionally, yakisoba would be served with cabbage, but Brussels are a great replacement, offering their own distinct flavor and vivid color. Because you're shredding the Brussels sprouts, there's no need to core them. My secret is to simply use the Cuisinart shredder. I pop the Brussels in one by one and save myself all the work of cutting. This recipe is a riff on one our dear friend Jane Hashimawari of Ippai PDX shared with us. I almost always top with a bit of Kewpie mayonnaise because it takes it to 100.
Naomi Molstrom, our go-to favorite noodle lover and adviser (who claims her body is 90% comprised of noodles!), shared one of her recipes for yakisoba at home. This takes minutes and is hand’s down delicious! She makes this for lunch for herself and her two sons on the regular.
Here we invert the standard ratio of vegetable to grain, using 7 cups of thinly sliced cabbage with one package of Umi Noodles with Miso Sesame Sauce or Yakisoba. The key is to sauté the cabbage quickly over high heat in two batches, unless you have a giant skillet and can do it in one. The entire dish is cooked over high heat, so everything gets golden and irrisistible.
Mee Goreng is everyday street food in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. These simple and quick panfried noodles get coated in a caramelizing “sauce” made by sambal oelek (chile-garlic paste), soy sauce, brown sugar, and tamarind. This is really complex tasting, thanks to the curry powder and sambal oelek. It gets extra wonderful thanks to fresh greens and crispy shallots. It works equally well with tofu or shrimp, so you can easily make it vegan.
"Yakisoba is simple comfort food that’s easy to throw together with whatever you have on hand. Plus, cooking with a wok is fast and fun."
I find mushrooms spectacularly delicious and satisfying. This dish highlights shiitake mushrooms—every single bite of noodles is tangled with a few mushrooms, which means every bite is a winner. While this recipe calls for shiitake, any number of mushrooms would work well in their place: oysters, criminis, lobsters, chanterelles—any mushrooms that tastes good sautéed in oil. This is now my favorite way to eat yakisoba noodles!