Noodles please!
March 29, 2021 7:46 PM Subscribe
I want more ideas of sauces to put on udon noodles. I’d like to buy 3-4 bottles to have on hand to quickly make tasty noodles with some tofu (is it possible to buy nice fried stuff?) and vegetables. If you have a different favorite noodle, a favorite noodle topping, vegetable, or protein let me know too.
I do eat meat but I don’t really know how to cook it and mostly cook vegetarian. I like the flavors in pad thai and dan dan noodles. I like mushrooms! Thanks for your noodle ideas!
I do eat meat but I don’t really know how to cook it and mostly cook vegetarian. I like the flavors in pad thai and dan dan noodles. I like mushrooms! Thanks for your noodle ideas!
Equal parts peanut butter, honey, and soy sauce, microwaved - makes a great sweet salty peanut sauce, a bit like satay sauce
Equal parts soy sauce and sesame oil
Equal parts soy sauce and sambal oelek (fermented chili and garlic paste, sold in jars)
Sautee minced garlic in butter, then toss onto the noodles with a little fish sauce, soy sauce, and some parmesan for San Francisco style garlic noodles.
A runny fried egg is great on noodles with almost any kind of sauce- the yolk adds creaminess.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:44 PM on March 29, 2021 [9 favorites]
Equal parts soy sauce and sesame oil
Equal parts soy sauce and sambal oelek (fermented chili and garlic paste, sold in jars)
Sautee minced garlic in butter, then toss onto the noodles with a little fish sauce, soy sauce, and some parmesan for San Francisco style garlic noodles.
A runny fried egg is great on noodles with almost any kind of sauce- the yolk adds creaminess.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:44 PM on March 29, 2021 [9 favorites]
I make an adapted version of this recipe and it’s so good. The half soy half mirin with a generous scoop of sambal oelek is delicious.
posted by cakelite at 8:55 PM on March 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by cakelite at 8:55 PM on March 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
Tom yum paste (sour/salty) is great if you like Thai food. You can add a little sweetener/honey to add sweetness.
posted by kinoeye at 9:04 PM on March 29, 2021
posted by kinoeye at 9:04 PM on March 29, 2021
In my experience, grocery stores that stock Chinese +/or Vietnamese products tend to have fried tofu chunks in the refrigerated section.
It's lazy, but I am a big fan of just buying a jar of pad thai sauce.
Fry tofu, egg, veggies/greens, rice noodles. Glop in the sauce. I add a bit more fish sauce and chili paste. Finish with chopped peanuts, cilantro and lime juice. It's not proper pad thai, but it tastes decent and uses up assorted fridge veg bits.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 10:14 PM on March 29, 2021
It's lazy, but I am a big fan of just buying a jar of pad thai sauce.
Fry tofu, egg, veggies/greens, rice noodles. Glop in the sauce. I add a bit more fish sauce and chili paste. Finish with chopped peanuts, cilantro and lime juice. It's not proper pad thai, but it tastes decent and uses up assorted fridge veg bits.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 10:14 PM on March 29, 2021
This is a great and very flexible recipe. If you like dan dan, you’ll like this.
posted by robcorr at 11:00 PM on March 29, 2021
posted by robcorr at 11:00 PM on March 29, 2021
Is fish ok? If so, can you find "sa cha" or ""korean bbq" sauce" ? The Bull Head brand is excellent.
I boil the noodles until hot, drain, dash with a good sesame oil, stir up the tin of sa cha (it settles hard) and glop a tablespoon or so into the udon (or whatever white noodle).
Sometimes I'll just use butter and ponzu sauce. (Very) mild citrus light soy. Top with fresh cracked black pepper. Maybe bonito flakes, or straight up furikake of some kind.
There is a huge world of tofu/ soy products. If you can get Sunrise products, I can strongly recommend them. Their website is far from complete.
If you can find mini fried tofu puffs, I halve them into cubes, then fry with a little bit of oil, garlic, onion, salt into crisp tofu croutons. Great for snacks or bowl-topping.
The larger fried puffs, cut them in half and they'll soak up whatever sauce you want to give. When frying mushrooms in butter, they'll sweat - throw in the halved puffs to cook and soak up the mushroom juice.
Or you can stuff them (minced fish/ surimi, minced pork mixed with water chestnuts and shitake or wood fungus mushrooms, etc.), fry with minimal oil on the top and bottom. It's a great texture-add to the filling.
Another type of tofu I like is the "pressed," "flavoured dried," and "marinated." They're all ready-to-eat out of the package. The pressed stuff you definitely need to add flavour. Even the other two, I usually add flavouring.
If stir frying, cut into fingers/ julienne, sauce could be oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, water; add a little cornstarch or tapioca starch in water at the end to glaze. Good with bamboo shoots or carrots (+celery) cut to a similar size. Throw some mushrooms in there if you like, or coloured bell pepper spears.
Super versatile stuff and is toothsome and I like the flavour. I've even shaved them edge-wise to get vegan "sandwich meat" - works well, but need to add some lubricating condiment between each layer (or lightly fry them up in a little oil, a little hoisin or sa cha, sesame oil) before stuffing into a sandwich with fresh alfalfa sprouts.
posted by porpoise at 12:03 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
I boil the noodles until hot, drain, dash with a good sesame oil, stir up the tin of sa cha (it settles hard) and glop a tablespoon or so into the udon (or whatever white noodle).
Sometimes I'll just use butter and ponzu sauce. (Very) mild citrus light soy. Top with fresh cracked black pepper. Maybe bonito flakes, or straight up furikake of some kind.
There is a huge world of tofu/ soy products. If you can get Sunrise products, I can strongly recommend them. Their website is far from complete.
If you can find mini fried tofu puffs, I halve them into cubes, then fry with a little bit of oil, garlic, onion, salt into crisp tofu croutons. Great for snacks or bowl-topping.
The larger fried puffs, cut them in half and they'll soak up whatever sauce you want to give. When frying mushrooms in butter, they'll sweat - throw in the halved puffs to cook and soak up the mushroom juice.
Or you can stuff them (minced fish/ surimi, minced pork mixed with water chestnuts and shitake or wood fungus mushrooms, etc.), fry with minimal oil on the top and bottom. It's a great texture-add to the filling.
Another type of tofu I like is the "pressed," "flavoured dried," and "marinated." They're all ready-to-eat out of the package. The pressed stuff you definitely need to add flavour. Even the other two, I usually add flavouring.
If stir frying, cut into fingers/ julienne, sauce could be oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, water; add a little cornstarch or tapioca starch in water at the end to glaze. Good with bamboo shoots or carrots (+celery) cut to a similar size. Throw some mushrooms in there if you like, or coloured bell pepper spears.
Super versatile stuff and is toothsome and I like the flavour. I've even shaved them edge-wise to get vegan "sandwich meat" - works well, but need to add some lubricating condiment between each layer (or lightly fry them up in a little oil, a little hoisin or sa cha, sesame oil) before stuffing into a sandwich with fresh alfalfa sprouts.
posted by porpoise at 12:03 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
When I go for pho, my standby sauce is half hoisin sauce and half sriracha, the mix of sweet and spicy/savory should be good for most noodles.
You can get fried tofu from almost any Asian grocery stores, but you still need to add flavor to it. Tofu is like a sponge... it will soak up flavor from other stuff. I would recommend you pan fry tofu instead. Start with firm tofu, then press it and drain any excess liquid, THEN cutting them into cube of maybe half inch sides.
Separate them into portions in freezer bags of your choosing. You can marinate them in the bag by adding any seasoning that you like, but a good start would be soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Only needs a few minutes. Drain excess liquid from the bag, add corn starch to coat the cubes by tossing. Then pan fry them in a flat bottom skillet with just enough oil. Cool on a wire rack to retain the crispiness.
posted by kschang at 12:07 AM on March 30, 2021
You can get fried tofu from almost any Asian grocery stores, but you still need to add flavor to it. Tofu is like a sponge... it will soak up flavor from other stuff. I would recommend you pan fry tofu instead. Start with firm tofu, then press it and drain any excess liquid, THEN cutting them into cube of maybe half inch sides.
Separate them into portions in freezer bags of your choosing. You can marinate them in the bag by adding any seasoning that you like, but a good start would be soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Only needs a few minutes. Drain excess liquid from the bag, add corn starch to coat the cubes by tossing. Then pan fry them in a flat bottom skillet with just enough oil. Cool on a wire rack to retain the crispiness.
posted by kschang at 12:07 AM on March 30, 2021
Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp! Or any of their other sauces, probably. Add enough spicy chili crisp until your dish is reddish and nicely spicy, plus soy sauce to taste, dash of chinkiang vinegar if you have it, and a drizzle of peanut oil if needed. When I make this with a bowl of rice, I also like to add a bunch of coarsely crushed roasted peanuts, but that might be texturally weird with noodles.
posted by gueneverey at 3:49 AM on March 30, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by gueneverey at 3:49 AM on March 30, 2021 [6 favorites]
I like to add fried onions as a noodle topping, they aren't just for green bean casserole! French's, or similar.
If you have a trader joe's, they have a house brand chili onion crisp that's supposedly similar to "Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp" that gueneverey mentioned. The trader joe's seems more crunchy than hot spicy, but it does have some heat. I enjoy it on lots of things.
If you have a trader joe's they have a pile of sauces and interesting frozen vegetables to check out. The frozen mushrooms in oil would be good since you like mushrooms. Mushroom medley I believe its called.
posted by TheAdamist at 4:00 AM on March 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
If you have a trader joe's, they have a house brand chili onion crisp that's supposedly similar to "Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp" that gueneverey mentioned. The trader joe's seems more crunchy than hot spicy, but it does have some heat. I enjoy it on lots of things.
If you have a trader joe's they have a pile of sauces and interesting frozen vegetables to check out. The frozen mushrooms in oil would be good since you like mushrooms. Mushroom medley I believe its called.
posted by TheAdamist at 4:00 AM on March 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
Soy sauce, butter and mushrooms is an iconic combination for good reason: example of a recipe here. I like butter and soy sauce so much that I often just melt a little butter, add some soy sauce and pour it over fish or tofu.
I'm a big fan of This Little Goat sauces but they are are rather pricey so I usually thin them down with more of whatever the main ingredients are or with my ramen broth. The Tokyo flavor is wonderful with tofu. I usually let the cubed tofu sit in the sauce for a while, then simmer it a bit and toss it all on top of the noodles.
posted by BibiRose at 6:12 AM on March 30, 2021
I'm a big fan of This Little Goat sauces but they are are rather pricey so I usually thin them down with more of whatever the main ingredients are or with my ramen broth. The Tokyo flavor is wonderful with tofu. I usually let the cubed tofu sit in the sauce for a while, then simmer it a bit and toss it all on top of the noodles.
posted by BibiRose at 6:12 AM on March 30, 2021
I love a soft-boiled egg or poached egg with my noodles.
I also like to put raw ahi tuna in the bowl and pour the drained noodles over top of them and stir. Cooks the fish just enough to make it delish.
posted by dobbs at 7:00 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
I also like to put raw ahi tuna in the bowl and pour the drained noodles over top of them and stir. Cooks the fish just enough to make it delish.
posted by dobbs at 7:00 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Chinese cooking blog Omnivore‘s Cookbook has been great for expanding the repertoire of ingredients and flavor profiles I feel comfortable with. She has intro cooking content (like, “buy these things, the label looks like this) and lots of searchable recipes. I’ll often make a recipe properly once and then riff off it for quicker meals.
https://omnivorescookbook.com/start-here/
posted by momus_window at 7:26 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
https://omnivorescookbook.com/start-here/
posted by momus_window at 7:26 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Soy Vay Teriyaki is great (all their stuff is great). I can't eat it anymore. Enjoy for me. :)
posted by joycehealy at 7:31 AM on March 30, 2021
posted by joycehealy at 7:31 AM on March 30, 2021
My standard noodle sauce is sesame oil + soy sauce + sriracha or chili-garlic sauce, with proportions to taste but roughly equal. A sweet soy sauce is nice sometimes too. I cook and season tofu separately from noodles and then combine at the end, since tofu needs a lot more sauce than noodles.
I made this peanut-free pad thai recipe recently (replacing the chicken and tofu with more shrimp though) and it was very easy and tasty. You can buy fully cooked and peeled shrimp and just stir it in at the end if you prefer, or replace it with tofu or chicken.
posted by randomnity at 7:40 AM on March 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
I made this peanut-free pad thai recipe recently (replacing the chicken and tofu with more shrimp though) and it was very easy and tasty. You can buy fully cooked and peeled shrimp and just stir it in at the end if you prefer, or replace it with tofu or chicken.
posted by randomnity at 7:40 AM on March 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
Fly by Jing chili crisp -
it is pricier than you'd pay for Lao Gan Ma, but you can feel good supporting a WOC-owned small enterprise.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:47 AM on March 30, 2021
it is pricier than you'd pay for Lao Gan Ma, but you can feel good supporting a WOC-owned small enterprise.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:47 AM on March 30, 2021
I would heat up some peanut butter with sriracha or other hot sauce, pour that on the noodles, and top with sliced scallions and/or roasted peanut and/or cilantro and/or hard-boiled egg.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:04 AM on March 30, 2021
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:04 AM on March 30, 2021
If you want to do a wee bit of chopping: Momofuku’s ginger scallion sauce
posted by freem at 3:42 PM on March 30, 2021
posted by freem at 3:42 PM on March 30, 2021
Goma dare aka goma shabu sauce is my go-to "I have these noodles and need to put something yummy on them". I use Mizkan brand but for all I know there are better ones out there.
posted by potrzebie at 5:51 PM on March 30, 2021
posted by potrzebie at 5:51 PM on March 30, 2021
The first recipe in this Aaron and Claire udon noodles video legit does take just 5 minutes and the sauce consists of sugar, water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and optional Korean chili pepper flakes (gochugaru). It's made with ground pork but I imagine tofu would work as well if you wanted. Add green onions on top and you're done!
(I haven't made the other recipes in the video but they also look pretty amazing.)
posted by sigmagalator at 8:17 PM on March 30, 2021
(I haven't made the other recipes in the video but they also look pretty amazing.)
posted by sigmagalator at 8:17 PM on March 30, 2021
I recently was gifted a carton of liquid eggs, and I tried a dash in my ramen noodle soup. It's like adding scrambled eggs, and balances out the salty broth quite nicely.
On the other hand, I've also tried chucking breakfast sausage patties (both pork and turkey versions) into my ramen, as well as deli sliced turkey or ham. They probably need to be cut first, as presentation isn't the best. :D
posted by kschang at 10:33 AM on April 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
On the other hand, I've also tried chucking breakfast sausage patties (both pork and turkey versions) into my ramen, as well as deli sliced turkey or ham. They probably need to be cut first, as presentation isn't the best. :D
posted by kschang at 10:33 AM on April 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
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