{Tasty Tuesdays} Raman Noodle Stir Fry with One Dog Woof

Hello lovelies! I am so excited! We are taking a break from my Revamping your Blog Series today (I will be back tomorrow with more blog how-to goodness) and are having a great guest post from ChiWei. CheiWei blogs at One Dog Woof and has a great recipe to share with us today.

So without further ado....

Blog Meet ChiWei

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Hello fellow crafters, chefs and eaters!  I'm ChiWei and I normally blog at One Dog Woof, but I'm excited to be guest posting here today, and a huge THANK YOU to Danielle for hosting me.  If you have time, come check out One Dog Woof and stay a while with me!

Our family gets home from work and daycare pretty late in the afternoon, and we only have so much time to make dinner and eat before the evening meltdown commences, so I'm a big fan of the "just throw it together" dinners, especially if they have an asian flavor to them.  Today, I'll be sharing with you my version of Yakisoba, which is a dish similar to lo mein, except in my case, I use dried ramen noodles, because I ALWAYS have some of those hanging around the house.  My inspiration for this idea came from Mark Bittman at the New York Times, and his The Minimalist column.  As with every other recipe, however, I've pretty much done my own thing to it!

I use the cheap $0.10/package of the Top Ramen you find at grocery stores.  It doesn't matter what the flavor is, because I throw out the flavor pack.  Everything else is open to interpretation, and what you have in the fridge on any given day.  You can make this with pork or beef or chicken or shrimp.   For vegetables, you can use anything you like, except maybe hearty vegs that require a long cooking time.  I'd probably try cabbage, green beans, sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, etc..

Yakisoba (Or, my Ramen Noodle Stir Fry):

2 packs dried ramen noodles 

a couple of tablespoons of oil to stir fry - can be any type.  I use olive oil or sesame oil or peanut oil

package of firm tofu, cubed and drained

1 clove garlic, minced

1 carrot, shredded

1 jalapeno, sliced, to add a kick

a couple of scallions, chopped

small handful of cilantro, as garnish

Sauce:

1/4 C of soy sauce

1/4 C of worchestershire sauce

2 Tbs of ketchup

1 teaspoon of sugar

1. Drain the tofu.  Cut into cubes, and set aside.

2. Cook the ramen according the directions on the package.  Drain, and set aside.  You can add a little oil to it to prevent it from sticking together.

3. For the carrots, I get lazy and instead of cutting them into matchsticks or shredding them, I just use a potato peeler.  I peel the skin off and put that in compost, but then I just go to town with the peeler until there's only a little carrot core left!  I am then left with long thin strands of carrot, awesome!  Chop up the jalapenos and scallions.  Set all the vegetables aside.

4. In a wok or skillet, add the cooking oil on medium high heat.  Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute.  Then drain the tofu one last time and add it to the pan.  Cook for a couple of minutes to allow the moisture to evaporate.  Add the carrots, jalapeno, and scallions.  Cook a bit more to soften the vegetables.  

5. While the vegetables are cooking, mix the sauce ingredients together.  

6. Once the vegetables are soft, add the noodles.  Toss, and then add the sauce.  Toss some more to mix everything thoroughly. 

7. Throw in the cilantro, do a quick toss and serve warm.

In our house, this serves 2. (We're big eaters)

Happy Eating!