Noodles with yakitori scallops and prawn skewers

These noodles with yakitori scallops and prawn skewers are quick and easy to cook (well, once you've marinaded the main ingredients for hours). Perfect for hot weather; filling yet very easy to digest. I grew up thinking it was a very traditional Japanese dish. But, it seems not...

Sayonara, tradition!

This dish of egg noodles with yakitori scallops and prawn skewers was one of the first dishes I remember my dad allowing me to cook without adult supervision. There, that says a lot: even a kid can pull it off.

But, for decades I laboured under the false impression that it was a traditional Japanese dish. It was Japanese, certainly, but not in the way that (vaguely racist) Western fantasies understand the Asian "obsession" with tradition.

When I visited my father in Australia as a grown-up, we talked about it as we cooked it together, one of our easy go-to options that he and I cooked for his wife and my (then) boyfriend to be enjoyed in the garden. Needless to say I couldn't speak to him about it early in the evening. Denton's Dr Doolittle tendencies followed him to Australia and at one point I thought we were going to be mobbed by the wild cockatoos that descended on the table, doing their little tricks as he fed them nuts...

Later that night, when the birds had all flown, literally, he explained that it wasn't a traditional Japanese recipe at all. It had been taught to him by his friend Izumi in Tokyo. She wasn't interested in tradition. For example, egg noodles in Japanese cooking were traditionally used in ramen dishes, not in stir-fried dishes; in dishes that took hours to create the broth, not minutes.

And, I started to get a sense of what he had been taught by Izumi, then a newly qualified architect working those infamously insane hours Japanese employers expected. He was always cagey when we spoke of Japan in the late 60s and early 70s. As an "incidental" Western friend of Mishima, he'd been dragged over the coals after what happened and didn't need it from his son. I always backed off.

But, years later, when I received his journals from that time, I understood a lot more. In essence, this is a "hipster" recipe from Japan in the late 60s (yes, zennimillenis, you were not the generation that invented the concept) and it is a tale of how two young professional women sharing a flat managed their demanding jobs versus a needing a nourishing meal.

In short, the answer was to marinade everything while you were at work for insanely long hours and then to knock it up in not time at all, drawing on other Asian influences. It was, after all, a period in which Japan had a renewed period of outward-looking internationalism. So much so, in fact, that it led to extreme reactions from those fearing for the loss of traditional Japanese culture, including Mishima. But that is another story for another place...

The new Japanese cooking

The key to this dish, as with a lot of Japanese cooking that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, is to allow sufficient time for marinading. In many ways, this is a mirror of how Japan was changing at that time. More young people were leaving home to pursue careers in big cities and living outside of the traditional family units. As in various Asian cultures, up until the early 1960s, young Japanese people usually didn't leave home until marriage and women, the matriarchs, usually took care of the cooking for the whole family.

With demanding workloads, this younger generation of independent professionals (largely the women; single men were more likely to eat out) evolved recipes in which signature ingredients would marinade, be infused, pickle or soak while they were at work, but could be quickly pulled together once they got home (late). This, my father taught me, is a prime example of such as recipe. Thus, while it only takes minutes to cook, you really need to allow sufficient time for the marinade to work its magic.

I think this dish, which has been knocking about since the 1960s, is a classic example of how the same flavour—in this case, yakitori—can be experienced "two ways"; as different in a way that has become very fashionable in contemporary Michelin-starred joints when lifted by Western chefs.

I'm including the from-scratch recipe for yakitori I learned from my dad that includes yuzu. Obviously, I think it's more interesting, but there is really nothing wrong with using readymade versions from reputable brands such as Kikkoman (though I actually find their yakitori a bit on the thin side) or Nihon Shokken (I think their yakitori is the best plug-'n-play on the market) because, after all, this is a recipe from the Japanese generation that embraced the readymade.

This version is for 2 diners, but you can readily do the arithmetic if you want to cater for a larger group. It scales in a a fairly prosaic way; no hidden tricks etc.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• This dish uses small, shelled marinaded scallops. You can use larger scallops cut into slices, but it's almost a shame to not savour larger scallops whole, so I never use them for this dish

• Make sure you use untoasted sesame seeds, not the blackened kind often used on sushi rolls. They have very different flavours and here the sesame seeds will be barely cooked by the stir frying, which is exactly what you want

• While the dish itself is quick to cook, it is important that you allow sufficient time for the scallops to marinade for at least 12 hours. If you don't have yuzu juice to hand, you can substitute this with fresh lemon juice, but only use half of the quantity in the marinade

Shopping list

for the noodles with yakitori scallops and prawn skewers

• Approx. 200g small raw scallops; fresh or frozen (fully defrosted)

• 4 or 5 extra large raw king prawns per diner; shelled, tail on

• Approx. 600g fresh egg noodles (or dried, boiled and drained)

• 2 thumb's lengths of fresh ginger; finely chopped

• 1 large green bell pepper; sliced vertically

• 2 echalion shallots; cut in half vertically and pulled apart

• 2 handfuls of sugar snap peas (or mange tout)

• 3 tbspns light soy sauce

• Approx. 2 tbspns sesame oil

• Approx. 1 tbspn canola oil (or peanut oil)

• 4 tspns untoasted sesame seeds

for the yakitori marinade

• 100ml dark soy sauce

• 100ml mirin

• 50ml sake

• 3 tbspn honey (2 tbspns caster sugar, which is more widely used)

• 2 tspns yuzu

condiments

• Pickled daikon (sakurazuke)

• Japanese pickled cucumber (yutaka kyurizuke)

  
  

Cooking Method

the yakitori marinade

1. This needs to be done long before you do anything else; to be fully cooled before cooking the dish. Since it stores well in the fridge, I usually do it the day before. In a small saucepan, cook all of the ingredients together on a medium heat for approx. 15mins

2. When the sauce becomes glossy and thick (this happens quicker if you use caster sugar instead of honey), remove from the heat and allow to cool, uncovered

3. When adding the yuzu, wait until the liquid is tepid before stirring in. Once fully cooled, you can store covered in the fridge for at least a week. However, remove to return to room temperature before making this dish

   

   
   

the noodles with yakitori scallops and prawn skewers

1. At least 12 hours before you cook the dish, place the scallops in a suitable bowl and spoon in 2 to 3 tbspns of the marinade, gently folding in so the scallops are all coated. Sprinkle over 1 tbspn of the sesame seeds, but do not fold in. Cover and store in the fridge, removing approx. 30mins before cooking so they return to room temperature

2. As with many wokked dishes, cooking goes very quickly. Ensure all of your prep is done before you start. Part of this preparation is pushing your extra large king prawns onto skewers and coating liberally with the yakitori marinade on a grill-resistant tray or grille

3. Add both types of oil to a wok, swirling around so the wok is well coated and heat on a high heat. Add the sliced bell pepper and stir fry, moving around frequently so it does not stick or blacken

4. When the bell pepper has softened but is still al dente, add the shallot segments and stir in. Stir fry together for about a minute, then add the ginger. As soon as it has released its aroma, add the light soy sauce and stir in. This will help prevent sticking

5. Cook these ingredients together for about 3mins; until the shallots show signs of softening but are still al dente. Add the sugar snap peas and approx. 2 tbspns of the yakitori sauce and stir in. Stir fry for about 3mins, reducing the heat slightly (if the ingredients begin to stick, lubricate with a little more light soy sauce )

6. Add the noodles and stir in. If it proves difficult to get them to combine, use "pincer tongs" to pull apart the noodles so that they allow the other ingredients to mix in with them more easily. NB. Important timing note: this is when you need to get your prawn skewers under a hot grill

7. Contrary to the mythologies of Western supermarkets, you should stir fry the noodles and other ingredients together for at least 5 to 6mins. Only when the noodles are fully cooked and the ingredients are properly "melded" do you add the scallops and their marinade to the wok. Stir vigorously so that they are spread evenly through the dish. But, ideally you should not cook them for longer than 1 or 2mins

8. Sprinkle the remaining sesame seeds over the noodles, fold in, and immediately remove from the heat, allowing them to merely be "warmed" by the heat of the dish rather than cooked. If your prawn skewers are not yet optimally grilled—they should be fully cooked and somewhat "blackened"—cover the noodles to keep warm

9. When both elements come together, plate and take to table with the condiments

   
   

Alternatives

This is by default a pescatarian dish. And, though I have tried to create veggie or vegan versions of it in numerous ways, I confess I have always given my results mixed reviews. That said, my favourite outing of the form involves substituting the prawns on the skewers with cubes of Quorn "chicken" and using tofu marinaded in the yakitori with the noodles. However, note that these need to be added before the noodles, not at the last minute.

In popular Japanese food culture, yakitori is most heavily associated with seafood and chicken (or "poultry" if you want to be pedantic; duck or pheasant also work). So, for devout carnivores or, indeed, those with seafood allergies, you'll be pleased to know that this dish is often cooked with chicken instead of prawns and is equally delicious. Obviously, you need to adjust your timings. The skewers take longer to grill and the marinaded chicken that goes in with the noodles needs to be added to the wok before the noodles go in, ensuring it is fully browned and therefore safely, fully cooked once the noodles are ready.

Pairings

This is one of those dishes with which I am most likely to have sake, mostly because I usually have some knocking about after making the yakitori marinade... and therefore it is usually the better known clear kind rather than the cloudy versions beloved of sake aficionados.

Or, if I have used all the sake in the marinade, the non-alcoholic thrill has come from sparkling water on ice with a little yuzu.

As with many Japanese dishes, it is fantastic with beer. Not being a beer hipster (unless you count someone who grew up around sailors who sipped Sapporo and Kirin long before the notion of "imported beers" even registered in the West) I head for the classics: good old Sapporo Premium Beer (which literally does what it says on the tin) or Kirin Ichiban, which, although somewhat overtaken by the hipper offerings these days. remains one of my favourites with this dish because it is light and fresh.

Although this is a dish that will work with many wines, particularly fresh white wines, I haven't had it with wine that often. Certainly, workaday sauvignon blancs or white burgundies didn't frighten the horses, but nothing specific I could recall. The curve ball that does stick in my mind is how well it worked with Mandi Isonzo del Friuli Sauvignon (sorry, can't remember the vintage).