I love these. They have a great texture and are very versatile as far as how and what you can cook them with.

I have to stop right here for a second. I have to tell you that it took me approximately 1.5 hours to put up that one picture and type those 23 words up there. It isn’t because I am slow at typing, I can actually type about 125 WPM. (I learned that in my old life, the one where I got up and put on business clothes and went to work all day and then met the girls after work for dinner and martinis.) Actually, it took me that long because I have been interrupted by my children about 1,359 times. For random things like these:

Mama, I need another movie in. Mom, how do I cook this macaroni again? Mama, I need some help in here (because blueberries were all over the floor). Listened to a song about poop that completely broke my concentration. Got yelled out because I didn’t put the Disney Princess rings back in the right order in the jewelry box. Mom, can you please get those dogs quiet so I can concentrate on my algebra? Broke up a ninja fight in the living room over who gets to have the bigger pillows in the pillow fight. Mind you, one was supposed to be doing school work and the other watching a movie quietly in her room. Then I realized what time it was and that I needed to get my dinner in the crock pot so it would be ready in time.

Now, finally, everyone is quiet and the house smells like ginger from the Asian pot roast in the crock pot. I am going to pretend that I am in a Japanese garden with beautiful cherry blossom trees and I am finding my moment of Zen. Ha ha ha ha ha…that lasted about 25 seconds until I heard the drama queen run through the house yelling, “my foot is on backwards and my toe is bleeding!” There was nothing wrong with her at all. Welcome to my world people, welcome to my world.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post…

Udon Noodles can be found in any Asian Market. The package I usually buy has about 12-15 of these wrapped bundles. 3 of the bundles, as shown above, serve our family of 5.

These are the basic ingredients needed for this recipe. I use a mix of the plain sesame oil and the sesame with Cayenne pepper. The Cayenne is super spicy and it ads a great kick of flavor to the noodles.You can usually pick up either of these very cheap in an Asian Market.

Then I go back and forth between adding one of these two sauces.

If I am going to do Chicken Katsu or something similar, I will use the soy sauce, but if I am making the noodles by themselves or with a more citrus style chicken, I use the Ponzu sauce.

Japanese Udon Noodles

• 3 bundles of Udon Noodles
• 2 tbsp sesame oil (I use 1 tbsp regular and 1 tbsp with the cayenne.)
• 2-3 green onions, sliced thin
• 1 tbsp of either soy sauce or ponzu sauce (you can use another sauce if you like)

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Unless the directions are all in Japanese like mine were and you have no idea what they say. In that case, just bring your water to a boil and add a small splash of sesame oil to keep the noodles from sticking. Break your pasta bundles in half and add to the boiling water. You only want to cook these for about 6-8 minutes, they do not take long to cook at all. If you leave them more than this, they will become mush!

Take them out and drain them really well in a colander in the sink.

While they are draining, turn your heat up to about medium on the stove and get a large skillet hot. Your going to add your oils and your sauce to the pan. Then once it is really hot, add in all your noodles and stir them continuously until they are all coated with the oil/sauce mixture.

Toss in your green onion slices and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Then remove from heat and serve!