Ultra-quick and excellent whether served hot or at room temperature, udon noodles tossed with Cantonese ginger-scallion sauce explode with flavor.
The sauce I’ve used is a riff on a recipe in David Chang’s “Momofuku” cookbook. It’s not a book I would typically recommend for weeknight cooking because most of the full recipes are multi-day projects. However, some of the pantry items, like this sauce and his quick pickle method, are in regular rotation at my house.
It does take a good deal of slicing and mincing — working your way through of a bunch of scallions can take several minutes — but once the sauce mixture is stirred together, the remainder of the recipe takes only a minute or two. If you like this dish, I recommend doubling or tripling the sauce next time and storing it in the fridge. The flavor only gets better with time, and, once you’ve made a batch, this recipe comes together in less than 10 minutes.
I like to make this with chewy, springy udon noodles, but you can use any noodle. Wide rice noodles or even Italian spaghetti would both work well. If you stick with udon, be sure to pay attention when cooking the noodles; they quickly go from rock solid to overcooked. If you buy them frozen, they’ll come in pre-portioned blocks; as soon as they come loose from the blocks in the boiling water, start checking for doneness.
For serving, you can keep it simple with a bit of additional scallion and sesame oil, or top with a quick-cooking protein like a fried egg or leftover chicken.
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