Cook With Me #1

I love cooking. I don't always cook as much as I should due to stress and my depression getting in the way, but when I can handle it, I love it. I've recently gotten into Japanese cuisine, so when I was placed on a no dairy no egg diet for the next week and a half, this is immediately where my mind went.

So, for dinner last night, Niku Udon.

Really simple, easily made, absolutely delicious. It also held up well for leftovers.

I forget to take pictures as I go, so they may be a disjointed at times. I apologize. The first step was to marinate the beef, which had been (kinda) thinly sliced into bite sized pieces. The marinade had three ingredients: sake, soy sauce, and sugar. Mix it up real well, put the meat in.

Now, the recipe only called for it to sit for ten minutes, which is fine and feasible. However, I had plans, so I was prepping before leaving, and then cooked when I got home. I'd say the meat sat in the marinade for around three hours, and it really good.

The first thing I did upon getting home was getting water on to boil so I could make the noodles. They only needed to cook for about five minutes, so while waiting for the water to boil, I cooked the meat.

I simply heated up a skillet over medium-high heat, and dumped the meat and sauce in. (Be careful doing this, I didn't think and ended up scalding my fingers from the steam. Oops.)

(These events and injuries are not uncommon in my kitchen. I don't know why, but I am perpetually clutsy and injuring myself in some way.)

Sear it til it's as done as you want it, then I just pulled it off the heat and let it sit.

Then, I cut up the green onions.

The recipe called for negi, which I totally forgot to grab, so I used what I had. The green onions were delicious with it, but I also really like green onions.

Once the water finally boiled, and the noodles cooked, I drained them and assembled the bowls. Noodles, meat on top, green onions on top of that. I did not find a need to add anything extra over the top (like soy sauce) though my husband did add some to his udon noodles once the meat was gone.

This recipe can be found in the cookbook Japanese Street Food. I highly recommend it.