SPAM AND KIMCHI YAKIUDON

SPAM AND KIMCHI YAKIUDON

#SIAintheKitchen

There’s something so classic about the combination of spam and kimchi together. I typically make a spam and kimchi fried rice, but this time I decided to mix it up and make a spam and kimchi yakiudon!

I’ve been making various forms of my yakiudon for years now. Yakiudon, pan-fried udon, is a dish that was adopted early in my cooking repertoire. I mean, I was using those shelf-stable udon noodles back then (I’ve upgraded to frozen, nowadays!) but the skeletal recipe has somewhat stayed the same.

Soy sauce + Worcestershire sauce. It was the part of the base recipe on the back of those shelf-stable packages and those are really the only flavouring agents I use. Base vegetables are generally cabbage, onion and carrot + whatever else. It’s just so easy. Always topped with Japanese mayo, toasted sesame seeds, scallions, sesame seeds and Sriracha.

Cheers to another 20 years of making this stuff!

SPAM AND KIMCHI YAKIUDON - makes 4 - 6 servings

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 small onion, sliced

• 6 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 tsp gochugaru

• 1 can Spam, diced

• 1/2 head Napa cabbage, roughly chopped

• 1 cup kimchi, chopped

• 1/8 cup kimchi brine

• 1 carrot, peeled and julienned into 2” pieces

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• dash white pepper

• freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

• 2 (100g) frozen blocks of sanuki udon

• drizzle Japanese kewpie mayo

• shredded nori

• 3 scallions, sliced

• toasted sesame seeds

1. In a large wok, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat and swirl until the oil is glistening. Add in the onions, gochugaru, and garlic and stir fry until very fragrant, about 1 minute.

2. Add in the cubed Spam and fry until you get some browning on some sides of the Spam. Stir often to prevent from sticking to the wok.

3. Add in the Napa cabbage and kimchi and cook for 4 minutes until the cabbage wilts. Add in the kimchi brine, carrots, water, soy sauces, Worcestershire, and white and black pepper. Cook for another 3 minutes to get some wok heat and caramelization - you don’t want anymore remaining liquid.

4. While vegetables are cooking, pour hot boiling water over the sanuki udon in a separate bowl. This should separate the udon noodles immediately. Drain and toss into the wok with the other ingredients. Cook for another minute until some colour appears on the udon. Turn off the heat.

5. Divide the noodles into bowls and top with a drizzle of Japanese mayo, shredded nori, sliced scallions and sesame seeds.