Spicy Chicken & Vegetable Stirfry on Udon

More often than not, I make noodle stir fries using the thin yellow chow mein noodles (see: Kung Pao Chicken Chow), but it's a delicious change of pace, when I remember to mix things up a little with udon. Udon is usually served as a hot noodle soup, but I find these fat, juicy noodles are particularly susceptible to soaking up sauce, so I like to use them in stir fry. 

This recipe also uses red cabbage, which I recommend over the usual green variety, because it contains significantly more protective phytonutrients (cancer-fighters) and 6-8 times more Vitamin C! 

Serves 4

• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
• Chicken marinade: 
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sriracha
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne 
• 7-8 cloves garlic (less if you don't prefer garlic)
• 2-3 dried red chili peppers 
• 1 small onion
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 small head red cabbage
• Sauce: 
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 2 cups water 
• 1/3 cup oyster sauce
• sriracha, to taste
• 4-5 packs of fresh udon (200gr per pkg)
• 4 cups packed fresh spinach
• 1 small bunch cilantro
• sesame seed, garnish

A couple hours in advance, trim any fat off chicken breasts, and slice into bite-size pieces. Mix well with all marinade ingredients and set aside in fridge, allowing marinade to soak in.

Mince garlic and dried chili peppers together. 

Prepare the remaining vegetables: Thinly slice the onion. Julienne (matchstick) the carrots and red cabbage. Chop cilantro. 

Heat a small amount of olive oil over med-high in a large non-stick frying pan. Add minced garlic and dried chilis. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, til fragrant and edges of garlic turn golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside (use a large bowl or container so you can continue adding stir fried items to the bowl before mixing together at the end).

Using the same frying pan, and without adding more oil, add marinated chicken over high heat. The moisture from the marinade will keep the chicken from sticking to the pan. Stir for a few minutes until cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. 

Using the same pan, add onion slices, reduce to medium, and let cook until onion softens and becomes clear (about 5min). Add small amounts of water occasionally as the pan becomes dry. Remove from pan and set aside when cooked. 

Add half a cup of water to the pan, increase heat to med-high, and add julienned carrots. Let steam-fry for 1min, then add the red cabbage to the carrots in the pan. Stir, and allow to steam-fry for another minute or two. Remove from pan and set aside.

Prepare the sauce in a small bowl, mixing together the cornstarch, soy sauce, ground pepper and water. 

Add the udon noodles to the frying pan over high heat, and add half a cup of water. Add more water as necessary as the water will steam off. Once the noodles have warmed up a bit, you can use a pair of chopsticks to loosen them up from their packaged brick form. When the noodles have been loosened, stir in the spinach, cilantro and all other stir fried ingredients set aside in the bowl. Give the sauce a stir as the cornstarch will have clumped at the bottom, then add to the pan, along with the oyster sauce, and sriracha to taste. Reduce to med-high heat and stir to mix everything together. Add more water to achieve desired sauce consistency. 

Serve in deep dish bowls (the noodles are slippery!), and garnish with sesame seeds.