Udon, edamame, and miso. These are all staples of Japanese cuisine that I love and so why not put them all together in a meal? Seems logical and is why I’ve made this dish a two parter recipe from Sandra Lee’s Semi Homemade Meals.
I should note that Sandra includes actual brands in her recipe breakdown. These brands are the staple brands you usually see in the Asian section at most grocery store chains. Not all of them are bad, but I do recommend visiting an actual Asian grocery store if you can. While there pick up some of that adorable Kewpie Mayo from Japan. Not only is it cute, but I swear it’s the best bottled mayo I’ve ever had.
What you’ll need for the Tilapia Udon
- 12 ounces udon noodles
- 3 1/2 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms (stem removed), sliced
- 3 scallions sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 cup sake
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 pound fresh tilapia fillets
- 1 container (32-ounce) organic miso broth
What you’ll need for the Edamame Salad
- 1 bag 16 ounce frozen shelled edamame
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 can 16 ounce baby corn drained and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 jar 2 ounces sliced pimiento, drained
- 4 radishes, thinly sliced
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup Chinese chicken salad dressing
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon prepared wasabi
The first step is to cook the udon noodles and I suggest to just follow package instructions. I got refrigerated udon noodles and they cook very quickly. If you did the same I recommend doing this step last.
The next step is to get a large skillet to saute the mushrooms, scallions, sake, and soy sauce. Bring this mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Once the mixture is simmering, add in the fish and then cover. Now this next step made me nervous, but I chose to trust it and things turned out ok, but Sandra says to remove the pan from the heat once covered and to let it sit for 10 minutes.
While this is happening get a medium sauce pan out and heat up your miso broth. I actually got miso paste to make my own broth. If you decide to do this it’s not too difficult. You just sieve the miso with warm water in an even ratio. I think I used two tablespoons of miso and poured 32 ounces of water to dissolve the paste. When the broth is cooked you can serve by diving the broth into four bowels and then topping with the noodles and the fish.
While the broth is heating up, I recommend preparing the salad and the first step in that is defrosting the edamame. Again follow package instructions but basically we want to microwave the edamame along with the water. When the edamame is cooked drain the water and let it cool.
While the edamame is cooling add the corn, pimiento, radishes, and scallions in a medium bowl. Add the edamame next and you got your base salad which leaves us room to make the dressing. To do so, get a small bowl and mix the salad dressing, soy sauce, and wasabi. Pour that over the edamame salad and there you have it!
This turned out ok. I said this with the last recipe from Sandra that I just think I’ve been spoiled with living in Los Angeles where I can easily get delicious noodle soup. My standards are very high when it comes to Asian soups and I’m never satisfied when I try to make any of them by myself.
In the case of this particular recipe I just felt the soup was too bland. I should have added more to my broth base I think, like maybe some ginger. It just didn’t taste quite right. Could be my fault or could be because my standards are too high.
Sadly I was also disappointed by the salad. I think the baby corn I got wasn’t the best or maybe I just don’t like raw baby corn, but I felt like I was eating edamame covered in weird chunky slime. It made me sad cause I like all the vegetables in that mix, but I think I would have been happier with just radishes and edamame.
This was kind of fail for me, but I still look forward to cooking more of Sandra’s recipes because so far it’s only been two recipes I wasn’t happy with. I think those are pretty decent odds. Feel free to try this out yourself though and give tips if needed.
thehermitfool 