Stir-fried Soumen

Here's something really simple to prepare and cook - all under 20 minutes.  I just came up with this dish because my student cancelled our lesson at the last minute and I needed to whip something up quick and healthy.

Soumen is a type of Japanese noodle that is normally eaten cold in the summer with diluted soya sauce that has been boiled with seaweed/ bonito.  It tastes a lot like the Chinese mee sua...so I thought, "Why not stir fry this noodle?"

You'll need:

• soumen (it's normally packed such that 1 bundle serves 1 person)
• 1 diced chicken thigh (I prefer thigh but you can choose to use breast meat)
• Approx 3 cabbage leaves, sliced
• 1 egg
• light soya sauce
• minced garlic clove
• dark soya sauce
• yakitori sauce/ okonomiyaki sauce
• dash of mirin/ shaoxing wine
• bonito flakes (optional)

Boil the noodles, drain (doesn't need to be too dry, a bit of water is good) and set aside. Fry the garlic and when it's golden brown, toss in the cabbage leaves and once the cabbage leaves are limp, add in the chicken. Once the chicken is half cooked, toss in the soumen. Then, add in the soya sauces, mirin and yakitori sauce.  I didn't state an amount because it's up to individual's taste. I don't like a lot of salt in my food so I used the soya sauces sparingly. The dark soy is mainly to give it a bit of colour and to give it a bit of depth. If you like yakisoba, then go ahead and be liberal with the yakitori/ okonomiyaki sauce.  Lastly, add in the egg and continue stir-frying till the egg is cooked.  Plate it and then top it off with the bonito flakes.  Really simple!!