If you’re wondering where the kimchi is in this dish, it’s in the sauce. Or call it a dressing because this dish is essentially a salad. Some ingredients are cooked, others aren’t, but after they are all combined together, no further cooking happens.
Is it a spicy dish? Yes but the level of heat can be easily controlled by using less garlic or kimchi juice. Or you may even reduce both for a noodle dish that is sweet and salty with just a hint of tanginess.
This noodle dish has three components: the meat, the noodles and the sauce / dressing. Each has to be prepped individually.
Start with the sauce / dressing to allow the flavors to develop. Measure soy sauce and honey in a bowl, grate a few cloves of garlic directly over them then drizzle in kimchi juice. That’s the liquid in which the vegetables are soaked. I don’t think you can buy kimchi juice so don’t go looking for it in the grocery. Just scoop out the liquid from your jar or package of kimchi.
Now, you add sliced scallions, toasted sesame seeds and sesame oil and stir everything together. Set your sauce / dressing aside.
Boil your noodles until almost but not quite done. The trick here is to toss the undercooked noodles in the sauce / dressing and allow the noodles to soak up the liquid as it cools.
What kind of noodles? Personally, I prefer noodles that can go into a bowl of ramen. Chewy, springy… But any noodle that can be cooked into chow mein or lo mein should work. Even pasta can be used although the texture of the dish will be different.
Drain the undercooked noodles and dump into the bowl with the sauce / dressing. Toss thoroughly and repeatedly. You should be able to see the amount of liquid reduce as you do this because the hot noodles are soaking up the sauce / dressing. Set the noodles aside.
The last component is the meat. You may skip this part if you prefer a meatless noodle dish. But I like meat, so… Spread ground pork in a hot pan and leave to brown slightly. Stir and cook for a minute or two, add sliced shallot and grated ginger, and cook until the shallot slices go limp. Add equal amounts of soy sauce, sake and mirin, and cook, stirring often, until the mixture is dry.
Now all you need to do is divide the noodles among bowls and top them with the lovely browned ground pork.
Ingredients
Sauce / dressing
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (I used Kikkoman)
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons kimchi juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons grated garlic
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- ¼ to ⅓ cup finely sliced scallions
- ½ teaspoon sesame seed oil
Noodles
- 120 grams dried Asian noodles (ramen or stir fry noodles will both work)
Meat
- 150 grams ground pork with at least 30% fat
- 1 shallot (or one small red onion) peeled and thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon sake
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the sauce / dressing. Taste and adjust the seasonings to suit yout taste. Set aside.
- Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling water until softened but still a bit undercooked.
- Drain the noodles well and toss with the sauce / dressing. Set aside.
- Spread the ground pork in a frying pan, set over high heat and cook until the underside if lightly browned. Stir and continue cooking until the coloring is even.
- Add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the onion slices are softned.
- Pour in the soy sauce, sake and mirin. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is quite dry. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed (see notes).
- Divide the noodles among three bowls. Spoon any remaining sauce / dressing over them.
- Top with the browned ground pork and serve.
