Stir Fry Udon

My Dad always has the urge to buy tons of food and he eats very little.  He had recently purchased a case of instant udon and gave me several packs of it when I left Sunday night after dinner.  I really did not think much of it since it was instant...I mean how many instant items are really good?  Yet I was very intrigued by it.  I have never used udon noodles in any of my dishes so I was excited to to use it.

These are not like the instant noodles you would normally get that come dry in the package and comes with some seasoning and flavoring packets.  They were fully cooked already.  My parents advice as they were giving it to me was that I needed to make a broth and add some veggies and some meat to it.  This is the only way I have had it at Japanese restaurants as a bowl of soup with some tempura shrimp.

From the tips and advice from some of my fellow foodies on The Woodlands/Spring Foodie Club, I decided do a stir fry.  The ingredients I had in the fridge are spinach, carrots, zucchini, onion, garlic, button mushroom, and shiitake mushroom.  Oh and my Mom had given me some peeled frozen crawfish that she had peeled.

I tried following the instructions on the packet by adding oil to my pan and adding the noodles first before anything else.  They did not work since it started sticking and not breaking up the noodles.  So pulled the noodles.  I stir fried all my ingredients together and added a simple sauce I made with soy sauce, black bean chili sauce, mirin, sambal oelek and sesame oil.  Tossed back in the udon and covered it.

I have always liked udon noodles, but I did not have too much faith in this instant udon.  To my suprise, the udon was delicious.  Tasted just like the noodles at the restaurants (hopefully they don't use instant).  The over taste of the dish was delish!  I was very satisfied on how it turned out.  If you have not tried these instant noodles, you have to pick some up.