Negi Shio Yakisoba With a Touch of Lemon (ねぎ塩焼きそば)

Naga negi, the Japanese long spring onion would be my best choice for this recipe. But sometimes you just have to improvise when particular ingredient is lacking. So my second best option is regular scallion. With the help of lemon and beni shoga (red pickled ginger), the negi shio yakisoba still tastes quite "Japanese," and delicious for sure. 

Negi shio yakisoba with a touch of lemon (ねぎ塩焼きそば) - 

Ingredients (about 6 to 8 portions)?

• 400 grams yakisoba noodles (presteamed)
• 450 grams pork slices (with some fats)
• 3 stalks scallion
• 1/2 small cabbage
• 1 bundle mizuna
• 1 lemon
• 1 small red onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons quadruple condensed tsuyu
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sake or Chinese rice cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Some beni shoga (red pickled ginger)

How?

Destem and chop the scallion, separate the white and the green part. For searing, we're aiming to use all the white part, but sometimes there won't be enough scallion white to use, it's ok to add some greens if that's the case.

Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Peel and slice the onion. Remove the tough center for the cabbage then tear the leafy part to medium size pieces. Destem and section the mizuna. Roll the lemon with some force pressing down first then slice in half. Cut the meat slices to shorter sections if needed. 

To save some troubles during cooking, you can premix the sauce first. Take a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of quadruple condensed tsuyu, 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of mirin, 1 teaspoon of sake or rice cooking wine, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.

Bring out a big pan, I used a wok instead, drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil and switch to medium or medium high heat. Add in about 1 1/3 cups of chopped scallion white, use scallion greens if not enough. Also add in onion slices along with 2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of coarse black pepper. Stir-fry till aromatic and the edge of the onion slices turn slightly golden.

Add the pork and chopped garlic, stir-fry till the meat almost cooked through.

Transfer the cabbage over and let it cook for couple minutes, or till it wilts a bit. Add in the mizuna and cook for a quick 30 seconds. 

Spread in the noodles and give it a few tosses. Pour in the sauce mixture, toss and mix till evenly blended. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Once checked, scoop the noodles to serving plate and garnish with good amount of chopped scallion greens. Don't forget to serve with beni shoga on the side.

If you can't find beni shoga, of course it's totally ok to skip it. Just that the acidity from the red pickled ginger really adds layers of flavors to the negi shio yakisoba. Looking at the picture, you'll see that I got really greedy with the beni shoga for my plate of yakisoba there.

On a side note, usually you won't find tsuyu being added in yakisoba recipes, but I purposely used it instead of the other common ingredient chicken powder. It's up to you if you would do the same or even use both. Just be careful not to heavily darken the noodles in the end since we are aiming for a lighter-looking stir-fry noodles for the negi shio themed dishes. 

Extended reading:

• Japanese Stir-Fry Noodles Yakisoba (焼きそば)