Udon Noodle Stir-Fry

We make a lot of stir-fry dishes these days since they cook quickly once the prep is done, and I can use whatever veggies I have lying around.   Here is my basic stir-fry procedure:

1.  Prep all vegetables, meats and sauces, making protein bite size and cutting vegetables thinly and uniform in shape

2.  Cook the protein over medium-high and remove it from pan

3.  Cook veggies until soft

4.  Add sauce and protein to the vegetables in the pan.

5.  Serve over rice or add in noodles

So using this formula I create new stir-frys with whatever we’ve got.  I use about a half cup of coconut aminos as a base for my sauces and add things like chicken stock, ginger, salt, pepper, garlic powder and/or sesame oil to change the flavor.  Coconut aminos taste a lot like a sweeter soy sauce and I find them at Whole Foods or other natural foods stores.  If I add a little salt to the recipe to compensate for the sweetness, it is a great soy sauce substitute.

The recipe I’m sharing today is for the stir-fry we had this week.  Feel free to play around with it and add/subtract veggies based on what you like.  My husband hates water chestnuts and sesame oil so I leave them out of the pan, adding some to just my portion.  Just remember to cut veggies thinly so they cook quickly and cut them all about the same size so they cook evenly.  When I’m short on time I pick up a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies.  They seem a bit softer in texture than fresh ones, but will do in a pinch.

One of my favorite parts of this dish is the udon noodles.  Udon noodles are a thin wheat noodle and I find them in the Asian foods section of our grocery store.  Other thin noodles, unflavored ramen or serving it over rice would work too.

Here is my stir-fry plan in action this week:

I cut onions, mushrooms, carrots, and butter lettuce all very thin.  I have a prep bowl handy to dump them in as I chop, which keeps them from taking over the counter.   I made a sauce of chicken stock, coconut aminos, salt and garlic powder in a two cup glass measuring cup.

I cooked the chicken and set it aside.  I check the temp often while it cooks or cut pieces in half to check for doneness.  I think it’s really important not to overcook it.

Then I cooked the veggies until they were soft.

Steamy veggies blurring the picture a bit

Then I began cooking the noodles in their pot of water, added the sauce and chicken back to the vegetables and went to break up an argument about a couch fort in the living room.  Sooo no pictures here.  I obviously struggle with being mom, photographer and cook all at the same time during the dinner rush.  But here is the end result!

It was a big hit with everyone at the table!

What combinations of veggies does your family like?

(Forgive me for the title – I’m coming up blank on this one so I’ll name it for what it is)

Thursday’s Stir-Fry

1/2 cup Coconut Aminos

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

1/8 teaspoon Sesame Oil – optional, add more to taste

1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder

A good pinch Salt

3 tablespoons canola oil, divided

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts – cut into bite sized pieces

8 oz  white button mushrooms – sliced thinly

1 large portabella mushroom- cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 carrot or 4 baby carrots – cut very very thinly

1 small onion – cut into thin slices

1 head butter lettuce or cabbage – chopped (about 2  1/2 cups)

1 small can water chestnuts – optional

6 oz Udon Noodles (dry weight)

Directions

Start heating a large pot of water for boiling the noodles.  Prepare the sauce by combining the coconut aminos, chicken stock, sesame oil (optional), garlic powder and salt in a small bowl.  Set aside.   Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and add the chicken.  Cook the chicken 5-6 minutes or until cooked through and there is no pink inside.  Place the chicken on a plate.  In the empty skillet add one more tablespoon of oil.  Add all of the vegetables.  Cook 6 minutes on medium high heat or until the vegetables are all soft.  Add the udon noodles to the boiling water and set your timer for 4 minutes.  Add the sauce mixture to the vegetables in the skillet.  Cook one minute and add the chicken back in.  Cook one more minute to warm the chicken.  When the timer goes off for your noodles, check for doneness and if cooked through, drain and add the noodles to the stir-fry.  Stir to combine and serve.