Skankynavia: Bacon Udon

Enjoying the early winter so far? I know I am.

I'm a cave bear and enjoy spending the long Scandinavian winter evenings in my studio or couch, working, crafting or watching Daria. In fact, since it is so windy, wet and utterly, depressively dark, I feel less bad about not hanging out on the beach, not frolicking around in the sun or not jogging around the lakes that I live nearby. And I don't miss summer and all its tedious focus on body, tan and skin deep waste of time.

And since this spring, when I was forced to change my diet, eat less takeaway and more homemade Japanese food, I spend more time in the kitchen. However, I haven't turned into a zombie foodie who talks about artisan vinegar or wheat ban enforcements all the time. Yet.

I just like to cook healthy, eat leisurely, clean quickly and get on with other stuff. But it's not a pain anymore, I actually truly enjoy it as long as it's not a day-long effort.

Which is why I like Bacon Udon - a recipe I got from my Mile High Club friend. It's another super easy dish you can throw together in 15 min or less if you've got snappy kitchen fingaz.

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BACON UDON
(2 peeps)

INGREDIENTS
4-5 slices of bacon
1/2 broccoli
3 spring onions
50g of mushrooms (can be left out)

Udon noodles, half a pack or more
1 tsp powdered dashi (Ajinomoto = MSG!)

Shichimi togarashi(Japanese 7-spice mixture)

Salt + pepper

QUICK RECIPE
1. Put some drips of sesame oil (or really any high temp durable oil) in a wok pan and heat up. Place the slices of bacon in the warm oil and let it sizzle real good.

2. Heat up a big pot of water and when it boils, throw in the udon noodles. Check the udon pack for specific instructions. I cook these for 8 minutes.

3. Rinse and chop the broccoli, spring onions and the musrooms while the wok and the pot are simmering.

4. When the bacon is well-done and crispy, remove from the pan and pour half of the remaining fat out of the pan (don't pour fat in the sink! Save it in a jar for a rainy day). Put the chopped greens into the pan.

5. Stir fry the greens and chop the bacon. Add some salt, pepper and shichimi spice while frying.

6. Remove 1 deciliter (about 1/2 cup) of the boling hot water from the noodles and pour in some dashi. Stir and let it sit.

7. When the noodles are done, rinse them in cold water to clean out the starch.

8. Put everything back into the wok and heat up: noodles, dashi and bacon into the greens.

9. Serve when hot, steaming and full of bacon umami.

EASY & HEALTHY, no?

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Broccoli, spring onions, Danish bacon, mushrooms and udon noodles.

Udon!

Heat some oil in a pan. I like this sesame oil.

And place the bacon -- let sizzle.

I eat so much spring onion. I wonder if you can have too much?

Chopped broccoli (super healthy)

Oyster mushrooms. I also use these in miso soup, they're very soft yet fleshy.

3. Place the noodles into boiling water.

Not entirely done yet, hold on...

Looks good now -- very crispy but not black and overdone.

Chop it up!

Put all the chopped vegetables in the bacon -- juicy wok oil fat and stir fry.

And the bacon.

Shichimi togarashi - a Japanese spice mix perfect for a dish like this.

It's red, beautiful and not too spicy.

Remove 1 deciliter (about 1/2 cup) of the boiling water.

Pour in some powdered dashi (about 1 tsp) and stir it up in the boling cup.

Or, you could be like Yoko, not be lazy, and make your own dashi. Imagine that!

When the udon noodles are done, wash them well in cold water to remove starch and add them to the wok. Add the cup of dashi and fry!