Vegetable Stir-fried Soba Noodles

Vegetable stir-fry with Shitake mushroom stock

1. 1

   1) First make the stock. Put the water and dried-shitake mushrooms into a deep pot and soak overnight or if you are short of time, you can add hot water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the mushrooms and then remove them from the stock. You can use the mushrooms for stir-frying in another dish.
   
   2) Put on a pot of water to boil and cook the noodles for 4 minutes or follow the instructions on the package. While the soba are cooking, you need to add a cup of boiling water to the pot about 2 or 3 times. This improves the texture of the noodles.
   
   3) Then drain the noodles and rinse with cold water to stop them cooking further.
   
   4) For the sauce, put 60 ml of the dashi stock, soy sauce, sake and mirin in a small bowl and mix well.
   
   5) Use a Santoku knife which is a general-purpose knife. The name of the knife refers to the three (san) cutting methods, slicing, dicing and mincing. Slice the red pepper and leek, cutting both into thin strips. Peel the ginger and slice thinly too. Cut the broccoli and green beans to bite size and blanch them. Ideally you will able to use any type of vegetable to add to the recipe.
   
   6) In a frying pan with a heavy base or a wok over a medium heat, add the oil and then put the ginger and leek first to allow the aroma to release. Then add the red pepper and the rest of the vegetables until they are cooked, stirring occasionally for a couple minutes.
   
   7) Add the noodles and keep stirring for a minute, pour the sauce over and reduce quickly.
   
   8) Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.