My Homemade Teriyaki Noodles

As a woman of African descent, raised by immigrant parents and who grew up on homemade meals inspired by my home country and French cuisine. I started including noodles and rice in my diet only after becoming a pescatarian to diversify my meals. It doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them from time to time. Whenever I wanted to treat my daughters to a meal for a change, they always chose a Japanese restaurant. It became a ritual to eat at a Japanese restaurant at least once a month; my eldest daughter loves soba noodles and karaage. As for my youngest daughter, she loves udon and oyakodon. 

I  won't tell you what my favourite Japanese dish is, but I can tell you this much, though: I love both noodle and rice dishes and take inspiration from Asian cuisine when making them.  Although I'm a decent cook, I'm not confident enough to "brag" about my dishes inspired by Chinese and Japanese cuisine, but let me tell you how I made delicious teriyaki noodles without a recipe. I use a lot of Asian ingredients in my daily cooking as I love well-seasoned food and don't mind mixing African and Asian seasoning.


What I Keep In My Pantry

Before we dive into the delicious noodles, I want to share with you what I keep in my pantry. These items are essentials as I make my meals from scratch to save money and for a healthier lifestyle. As I explained in my post How I Became A Pescatarian, I don't eat out that much, and when I do, I usually go to a sushi bar or a cafe. To be honest with you, I prefer to make my own meals, which is why my pantry is always stocked. You will always find these ingredients in my pantry:

  • Dried seasoning
  • Coarse sea salt
  • Curry sauce
  • Soy sauce
  • Oyster/teriyaki sauce
  • Miso paste
  • Tofu
  • Sesame/olive Oil
  • Pasta
  • Egg
  • Rice
  • Sesame seeds
  • Wakame seaweed
  • Herbal tea
  • Flour 
  • Tortilla wraps
There is a lot more in my pantry, of course, but I never run out of these, and they're a lifesaver when I'm broke. I picked up a pretty expensive hobby when I started my solo travel journey, especially in this economy, and it's been hurting my bank account a little.


These chopsticks were gifted to me at a Japanese restaurant in Manchester


Egg, Miso & Pak Choi

I used to be disgusted whenever I saw people add raw egg to noodles and wondered how they were able to eat them."That will never be me," I used to think until I started cooking noodles and rice at home. Anyone who cooks knows how hard it is to decide on what to eat after a long day. So I started contemplating the idea of adding egg when I ran out of ideas, thinking it can't be that bad if people are doing it. Now I hardly make noodles or rice without including an egg in the dish. I also started making my own noodle sauce after watching a few videos on how to make miso soup at home.

I often watch Japanese cooking videos on NHK and YouTube. My favourite channel is Miwa's Japanese Cooking. I learned so much from watching her videos, and now I can even make a decent miso soup by my own standard, I have to say. She helped me experience Japanese cuisine at home, and that's how I started including miso in my daily diet, which inspired me to start making noodle sauce from scratch. Then I made udon for my youngest daughter at least once a week, and she loved it. If you need inspiration for making Japanese food, check out NHK or click the link above.

Pak choi was an ingredient I added to my noodles only every now and then until a couple of months ago, when I made pak choi soup. It's now one of my favourite vegetables, and I use it in noodles, rice and salad. Now that I think about it, it's been a while since I had pak choi and salmon salad. Anyway, it's probably funny for someone who has never been to Japan to eat miso every day. I'm not even sure if it's good quality miso paste, but miso soup is delicious and has been good for me!


Making Teriyaki Noodles With No Recipe

It would be a lie to say that the inspiration to make these teriyaki noodles came out of thin air; this dish was made using the experience gained while trying Asian cuisine. I didn't need a recipe because I wasn't trying to make authentic Chinese or Japanese noodles; I was just making a meal from scratch with what I had in my pantry. Most Asian people would probably be horrified by how I made the dish since I didn't follow any "rules" or "guide", but the point wasn't to recreate an authentic dish.

I wanted to make something delicious, inspired by Asian cuisine, with a personal twist, and that's how I made my homemade teriyaki noodles. I didn't take photos of the process as mentioned above; I'm not confident enough to brag about my cooking skills. So these are the ingredients used to make the dish:

  • 4 King Prawns
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 sliced Pak choi
  • 1 Cup diced mushrooms
  • 1 Sliced carrot
  • 1 Tbsp minced Bell pepper
  • 1 Tbsp minced onions
  • 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp minced spring onion
  • 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
  • 2 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 Pack of dried noodles
The type of noodles I used could be stir-fried straight from the package, but I preferred to put them in boiling water for a few minutes. While they were in hot water, I started frying the diced mushrooms, bell pepper, onions, and garlic. Then I added the king prawns to the mix with 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce and fried them for a few minutes at a low temperature. Once the noodles were ready and drained, I also added them to the mix with a tablespoon of dark soy sauce. After mixing for a few more minutes, I threw in my homemade noodle sauce. I mixed it again, added an egg to the noodles, then covered it by pulling some noodles on top.

I stopped stirring at this point and added teriyaki sauce and spring onions on top. I stirred lightly to mix in the sauce and spring onions. I made herbal tea while it cooled, then put some on my plate and sprinkled sesame seeds. The egg ended up at the bottom of the plate, which is why it isn't visible in the picture. This is by far the best noodles I've made to date, and I would love to make them again, but I'm not sure if I will be able to create the flavour...

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