"Fried" Udon

There is no way I am going back to yellow mee.  After trying out this wonderful product, its sayonara to yellow mee.   

This wonderful replacement is called udon.  Yes Yes i know, udon has been around for ages.  I don't mean i have never tried udon before, but this is the first time i cooked it at home, and I am so happy to find out that it has no color, no oil, no preservatives.  (I am such a noob).

Well, the water in which i boiled the udon in did not turn yellow.  There is absolutely NO oily residue, and no funny layer of funny things floating on top, if you know what i mean.  The water also has no funny taste or smell. 

Compare that with yellow mee which turned the water into a yellow oily river.  And amongst the different types of popular noodles (yellow mee, wantan mee, kway tiau, loh shee fun), yellow mee contains the highest level of boric acid, at 70%.  Yikes!  

I'm sticking to this from now on:

Ok, now that i've overwhelmed you with nudle horror stories and turned you into an udon convert, lets get to the real story here.  

So we've been having udon quite a bit lately, but mostly in soup form, with miso stock.  For a change, i decided to do a dry version.  I didn't actually fry the udon; rather i made extra portion of sauce and and more like tossed the cooked udon in boiling gravy for a short while with all the other ingredients.  This is a much healthier version as it uses less oil, and is less messy to cook.  There really is no frying.    

"Fried" Udon
Serves 3

• 3 packets of udon, approx 200g per packet
• 250g minced pork
• 1 bunch of baby spinach, rinsed
• 250g medium size prawns, shelled, deveined, and sliced in the middle into two halves
• 1/2 packet of beansprouts, rinsed
• 3 pip garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tbspn sesame oil
• 1/2 tbspn of oil

For the seasonings:-

• 4 tbspn of oyster sauce
• 1/2 tbspn of dark soy sauce
• 1 tbspn of light soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups of water

1. Put a pot of water to boil, the quantity should be sufficient to immerse the udon.  Once the water is boiling, put the udon in and boil until slightly softened, for about 8 minutes.  Pour away the hot water and drain the udon in a colander.  

2. Heat the oil and fry the garlic until lightly golden.  Add the minced meat and fry until just cooked.  

3.  Pour in the seasoning and bring it to a boil.  Add the baby spinach and prawns.  Keep tossing until the spinach is lightly wilted and the prawns are curled up and turned light orange. 

4. Quickly add in the udon and the bean sprouts.  Mix everything well, ensuring the beansprouts are just cooked.  Serve warm.