Teriyaki Chicken and Udon Noodles

Today's dinner was yet another Japanese dish (in case you can't tell :P) We've only ever had this a couple of times, mostly of the price of udon noodles (white Japanese noodles made out of wheat flour) :P But I've recently 'discovered' an Oriental market near our house, up on Gloucester road (or somewhere near there...Cheltanham road maybe? Well, you wouldn't care anyhow :P) and they sell oriental noodles that look like udon noodles, so I hazarded a guess that they would taste the same as well. What do you know...they do! XD *yey* They were cheaper, as well. Much much cheaper. That's always a good thing. Out interest, the shop also had a hairdressing salon at the back. Now that is a weird combination o.0 Reminds me of Brunei, haha. The salon looked quite nice actually, haha. Empty of customers though. Anyway...out of topic...back to dinner :D

What you need:
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/4 cup kecap manis
450g chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces (I used thighs, as usual)
400g fresh udon noodles (I used the dried variety)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 onion, cut into thin wedges
2 teaspoons sugar
6 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

What you do:

1. Combine the garlic, ginger, soy sauce and kecap manis in a large non-metallic bowl. Add the chicken and toss until well coaed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook noodles in a saucepan of boiling water (according to directions) until tender. Drain thoroughly.
3. Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade. Combine the peanut and sesame oils. Heat a wok over high heat, add half the oil mixture and swirl to coat the side of the wok. Stir-fry the chicken in batches until nicely browned. Remove from heat. Heat the remaining oil in the wok over medium heat, then add the onion and stir-fry until softened.
4. Meanwhile, pour the reserved marinade and the sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to boil, the reduce the heat and simmer until slightly syrupy, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from heat and keep warm.
5. Return the chicken to the wok, along with the spring onion and udon noodle, tossing well to combine. Cook for 2 minutes before pouring in the reserved heated marinade. Stir thoroughly so that everything is coated in the mixture and heated through.
6. Serve immediately.

In case you're wondering what udon noodles taste like, they're yummy :D They're nice and thick and soft and slightly salty as well. They feel...I dunno, silky somehow. For dishes with them, the noodles taste better than the chicken, haha. Coz the noodles just absorb the sauce and taste so nice! Not that the chicken doesn't taste nice. The ginger and garlic is definitely a must. Adds a nice flavour. I used the powdered version, as usual. I also increased the amount of marinade, simply because we used so much more noodles than recommended. >.<>

Oh, and Syukri said that there are udon noodles being sold in the Mall (in the supermarket, I forget what its called >.<) so you can get them in Brunei as well. Isn't that nice? :D

Even though they're both called teriyaki, the chicken doesn't taste much like the other teriyaki chicken that I made last time. They both have soy sauce, but that's about it. The one last time was much sweeter and...thicker, somehow. This tastes a bit like ayam kecap, though the garlic and ginger definitely made a difference. Plus this one has noodles, muahaha :P It' s nice to have a change from rice ^^ This definitely doesn't taste like normal mee goreng, by the way. The noodles are much much different. Seriously, try it :D