Stir Fry Udon with Sacha Sauce - 沙茶炒烏龍麵

San Francisco here I come!
This is going to be my long craved weekend getaway, packed with lots of action shots and mouth watering restaurants!

"But!" Before I leave for my afternoon flight, here's a quick blog update,
(Something to keep you guys' stomachs rumbling while I'm gone..-evil grin-..)

Ingredients (for 2 to 3 people)?

Marinade:
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mirin

Main:
3 packs/600 grams of instant udon
1/2 onion
1/2 small carrot
3 Thai chilies
4 stalks of bak choy
8 shitake mushroom
2 garlic cloves
230 grams of sliced pork (about 16 - 18 slices)
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of sacha sauce
1/2 teaspoon of chili sauce
Some olive oil
Some salt
Some black pepper

How?

Let me give you a brief intro of sacha first,
It's like one of Asian's all time favorite sauce. Seriously.
There are different varieties such as "ma la" (super spicy) or vegetarian.

The most common place you'll find sasha sauce is at a hot pot joint, where people mix sacha together with other condiments such as scallion and cilantro to make the dipping sauce.
It is also often used in barbeque by smearing the sauce on meat and vegetables,
(Soooo good!).
As for our udon,
We are going to use the most basic, original sacha as this stir fry dish's seasoning agent.

Move on to the preparation work,
Slice the onion, carrot, and mushroom,
Finely chop the garlic and chilies,
Remove bak choy stems, cut larger leaves in half.

Marinate the pork slices for at least 15 minutes.

Boil a big pot of water to cook the udon,
Once the noodles are about 80% done, drain well and set aside.

Have a pan ready, drizzle some olive oil, toss in sliced onion, sprinkle some salt and pepper,
Cook till the onion turns translucent, add chopped garlic and chilies,
About 20 seconds, pour in the pork slices and the remaining marinade,
Let if cook for 10 seconds, add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sacha, and chili sauce,
Give it a quick stir then add the thin carrot strips,
About 30 seconds, toss in the mushroom.

Save the bak choy for last since it cooks through faster than other ingredients,
Taste the mixture once the greens are fully cooked,
Use more oyster sauce if not salty enough,
However, it should be saltier since we gonna add the udon, which will dilute the flavor,
Also definitely use more chili sauce if you're a big fan of spicy food like me.

Once you get an "OK" for the sauce check, toss in drained udon,
Mix well, cook for a little bit longer so the noodles can absorb all that yummy sauce.

I really like this dish (especially when I make it "super spicy" style),
Hope this post is good enough for you to feast with your eyes during my short disappearance,
Just wait,
There will definitely be lots of mouth watering pictures next week!

Cindy's Rating: 8