Thanksgiving is a HUGE holiday for my family. No, we don’t celebrate it to revere a group of people that arrived in a new world and took advantage of the indigenous people. Thanksgiving is a day of Thanks, in my family, and that means spending it together and being thankful for each other. So when I took this research trip to Hawaii this year I knew I would be away from my family for the first time on a holiday I love spending with them.
Things looked up when a very nice family asked me if I would spend it with them. I was so excited I even made a vegan ice cream for the occasion. Then common sense took over. I hadn’t finished quarantining after being told one of our team had contracted COVID. On the third day of testing, I delivered the ice cream to the family and explained I didn’t feel right taking a chance infecting their family. I had been testing every day, but it had not been enough days to be sure. So now I was alone again for the holiday.
Well what the hell was I going to make then. My StepMom usually bakes me my favorite Field Roast Vegan Roast but no matter how good a cook you are, your Moms love makes things better. like my BioMoms Fondant Potatoes that she has learned how to do vegan as well as conventional. I’ll share her recipe on those soon, they are the most indulgent, rich potatoes you’ve ever had, even with vegan ingredients.
So that left me on my own. What to make. I was at the grocery store and wandering when I passed my favorite teriyaki sauce and it hit me. Yakisoba and Teriyaki Seitan! I’d made some Seitan the week before so I had that. (I just realized I have yet to post my Seitan recipe so I need to do that!) I just needed a few other things to have an amazing meal. In the produce section, I also grabbed a bunch of good sized brown mushrooms to stuff with my Gyoza filling, that I still had left over. Which makes amazing stuffed baked mushrooms. Some like cheese on top, others don’t, I went without this time.
Thanksgiving day arrived and so I didn’t feel left out or alone, my family got me on a vid call, that we kept up for about 15 hours straight. They’d move me around the house with them to visit with people. It was actually a lot of fun. My Grandmother though, whose base Yakisoba sauce recipe I was going to be using, that I’d veganized, kept pestering me to cook because she wanted to see how I had changed it, as I had not made it for her yet. Finally I broke down.
First I made the pasta. Made the pasta? What the heck, your asking yourself now. Well when I was shopping, I actually forgot actual Ramen Noodles so I had to make the alternative that has actually been a known hack for Japanese Ramen lovers traveling abroad for decades when they couldn’t find actual Ramen noodles. You change the structure of spaghetti.
Ramen noodles owe their distinctive chewiness and yellowish hue to “lye water” known as “kansui” (かん水) in Japanese. Lye water is an alkali salt solution mixed into the flour during preparation. Without it, you’d simply be kneading regular wheat flour into what would become Udon noodles. Normal pasta lacks this lye water component, giving it a distinct texture that’s firmer and less chewy than ramen noodles.
The crucial ingredient in lye water is sodium carbonate. The thought process behind using baking soda while boiling pasta is to mimic a basic environment that encourages a reaction between the base and gluten—similar to the process of making ramen noodles in the first place.
Now, baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, does have an extra hydrogen. However, when it’s heated, it decomposes into sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide. The theory is that boiling spaghetti with baking soda essentially alters to something similar to ramen noodles.
Here’s how.
Ramen Noodle Alternative:
I should note this will not magically turn spaghetti into actual Ramen noodles but it will give the pasta more of the texture and mouth feel of Ramen.
INGREDIENTS:
Pasta: If you like skinny Ramen noodles, use Angel Hair, Spaghettini, or Capellini. If you like thicker Ramen noodles like I do, use normal Spaghetti. As Always I recommend, the Barilla brand as those are guaranteed vegan.
Water
1/2 teaspoon salt for every 4 cups water.
Baking Soda (NOT Baking Powder!) 1/2 Tablespoon for every 4 cups of water.
INSTRUCTIONS:
I always start with hot tap water when cooking pasta of any sort. It boils faster and if you add salt, it dissolves immediately.
Boil the water, but just before you add the pasta, add the Baking Soda.
WARNING: The baking soda will FOAM impressively when it hits the hot water. Make sure you have the same amount of room in the pot for foam growth as you do water. I.e., only use half the pot for boiling water and to cook the pasta in.
Once all the Baking Soda has dissolved, add the pasta. It WILL FOAM again so beware. It will continue to have a head on the water during the cooking process so keep an eye on it.
Now this is important. Do NOT cook the pasta Al Dente. For Italian dishes this is proper. To use it as a Ramen alternative it is not. In fact, cook the pasta 2 or 3 minutes longer then the packaging suggests. You want SOFT pasta. This along with the structural change brought about by the Baking Soda will create an awesome Ramen alternative.
When the pasta is finished cooking. Rinse it. I would not recommend rinsing pasta again, for an Italian dish. For this though, you must, as it will have a slight slimy coating from the chemical reaction that happened during the cooking process. Feel it with your fingers as you rinse it to make sure it is all rinsed clean.
Set it aside.
Yakisoba itself is traditionally noodles, vegetables, thinly sliced pork and what makes the dish, it’s sauce. So feel free to make it with pork if you like.
SAUCE INGREDIENTS:
6 tbsp teriyaki sauce-vegan – Panda Express Brand is Vegan! (This takes the place of Oyster sauce and you’ll actually like its umami flavor much better!)
3 tbsp soy sauce – (I use low sodium because it’s healthier.)
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce – I use Haddar Vegan Friendly Worcestershire Sauce
6 tsp tomato ketchup – (I like Simple Truth Organic Gluten Free No Sugar Added Ketchup)
3 tsp sugar
6 tsp sesame oil
Black pepper to taste about 1/2 tsp
INSTRUCTIONS:
Simply mix it all together in a bowl. Taste it to make sure its too your liking, adjusting ingredients accordingly. Though I think you will love this just the way it is.
CREATING THE MASTERPIECE:
Now we are going to bring things together. I have a few hints on this.
- Cook any veggies so they are Al Dente and set them aside.
- Onions, broccoli, peas, and cabbage are my favorites.
- Sauté them and if you have it, put them in a bamboo steamer just to keep them warm. Do not steam more.
- I cook my Seitan separate and set it aside. You can do this with the pork, though my Grandmother just barley cooks the pork, usually in seasoned boiling water, or grilled depending on her mood, make sure the pork is cooked through. Place this as well in a bamboo steamer. I recommend these otherwise you will have to microwave the whole meal at the end as the meat and vegetables will have cooled too much.
- Fry your noodles. There are a bunch of different thoughts on this.
- I use sesame oil. 1 Tablespoon works perfectly for my single serving meal.
- I do NOT sauté them until they get char marks on them as some people like. Just long enough for the oil to be gone and the sesame flavor infused into the noodles.
- Add the sauce to the noodles and keep sautéing until its mostly gone. It will have all coated the noodles or steamed away by then. You do not want loose liquid.
- Mix in the vegetables. This is the preferred way to do it and not in the sauté pan. you do not want the vegetables coated with the sauce. You want their flavors to be separate from the sauce flavored noodles.
- Do NOT mix the meat into the noodles. It should be served separate, so I always place it around the edge of the dish which lets me incorporate it into each bite. Again keeping the flavor of the meat separate from the noodles and vegetables.
- Top with green onions, spring onions, shallots, etc..
You will then have this:
A not only delicious, but beautiful dish to enjoy.
This made my Thanksgiving much less lonely because it brought back memories of my grandmother serving me this when I was younger using her recipe. The family all around laughing. Made only better by being on the vid call with my family while I made and ate it.
My grandmother was impressed with my substitutions and made me promise to make it for her when I am done traveling in March of 2024.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
