One of the popular lunch for middle school and high school student at a school cafe is a sandwich called “Yakisoba Pan (焼きそばパン)”, Yakisoba is a type of stir fried noodle, and Pan means bread (originally from Portuguese Pao, meaning bread).
The other day, I was trying to think what to pack for lunch next day, looking at the almost empty fridge with just bean sprout and some cilantro, one onion on a countertop, and semi-freezer-burned chicken, and decided to make a Yakisoba Pan. My plan was to make yakisoba, then stop by at Kroger to buy bread on my way to pickup my wife at school. Long story short, they didn’t have uncut hoagie bun (it needs to be cut like a hotdog bun, but in hoagie size), so I grabbed Indian Naan that was on sale..
Anyhow, here’s the Recipe. Remember, this is not a traditional Yakisoba or Yakisoba Pan. other than ingredients, most steps are pretty much the same, so I’ll have the real ingredients in (parentheses).
Ingredients:
- Instant Noodle (doesn’t matter the flavor, I just use the cheap Maruchan Ramen
)
- Chicken (Usually we use Pork belly)
- Soy Bean Sprout
- Cilantro (this is not something we usually put…)
- (Green Onion)
- (Cabbage)
- (Shitake Mushroom)
- Yakisoba Sauce
(you can substitute with Worcestershire Sauce + Ketchup + Mayonnaise in 2:2:1 ratio)
- Sesame Oil and/or any other cooking oil
- Naan (Usually use a roll hoagie/sub size but cut on top like a hotdog bun)
Directions:
- Start boiling water to cook noodle, while prepping other stuff
- Cut Chicken (Pork) in string (and then I mixed with small amount of corn starch since it was a bit freezer burned. Covering in starch make the meat taste juicy).
- Prep Vegetable (cut size is just a reference, it really doesn’t matter):
- may use bean sprout as is without any prep, just wash
- Green Onion should be cut in 2″ or so long
- Cabbage should e cut in 1/2″ square
- Shitake Mushroom should be sliced
- Once water boils in the pot, start cooking instant noodle. make it a little under cooked, as we cook more in a pan. Once cooked, put in a cold water to stop cooking itself by its own heat
- In a large sauce pan, heat oil, put meat, break them apart, place all vegetable, and use salt and pepper to flavor a little
- DO NOT OVER COOK VEGETABLES!
- Put noodle, then add Yakisoba Sauce to your liking
- Place the Yakisoba in sandwich, or it taste great just as yakisoba itself!
