The head chef at Koya serves up a stir-fried noodle dish
In its Eat Well for Less series, OFM asked 10 chefs to make a meal for four whose ingredients cost £5 or less – barring items that would already be in the household cupboard, such as olive oil, soy sauce, dried herbs and spices.
Yakisoba is Japanese stir-fried noodle. It's a common street food, but is also eaten as a family meal. Somehow it has never attracted quite the same attention as udon, soba or ramen, which have become gourmet fast food. But it remains popular because it's cheap, easy to make and addictive.
white onion 1 or 2 spring onions
white cabbage 1
smoked streaky bacon 275g
chow mein noodles for stir fry 2 packets
bean sprouts 500g
TOTAL £4.97 from Tesco and local Chinese supermarket
Thinly slice the onion, cut the bacon into 2.5cm sized pieces and the white cabbage in your preferred size (I like to cut it large, so that you can enjoy a big bite). Prepare the biggest frying pan you have and fry the bacon until coloured, then add the cabbage and the onion and continue frying for another minute or two. If you do not have a large frying pan, divide the ingredients into 2 or 3 and fry them in a few times. Set aside.
Fry the noodle and bean sprouts together. Just before they're cooked, add the bacon, cabbage and onion and again fry for another minute or two.
If you have HP or Worcestershire sauce, then use it as seasoning. You can also use soy sauce. If you don't, don't worry, as salt and pepper is enough for seasoning, since the smoked bacon gives an umami rich savoury taste and the cabbage and the onion give natural sweetness to the dish. The important thing to finish is to fry for a little while after you season the ingredients so that you can caramelise the sauce.
Koya, 49 Frith Street, London W1D 4SG