Michelle's Special #129: Wudon Noodles
Sometimes people ask me what I cook for myself when I don’t eat out or order take out. I never know what to tell them because most of what I make is whatever I have in my fridge or some concoction I made up. Here is one quick, simple and healthy 10-minute meal that I sometimes make when I’m too lazy to spend much time in the kitchen. I call it Michelle’s Special #129—Wudon Noodles because it comprises of wontons and udon. (But frankly you can add anything to udon and call it a meal.)
I begin by boiling a little less than half a pot of water and add some salt, chicken bouillon powder, soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil when the water begins to boil. I never measure anything, so add to taste. Once the water’s boiling, I add frozen wontons, sliced shiitake mushrooms and fish tofu. I usually let the wontons cook for a while. When they’re close to being done—the skin looks silky smooth—I drop in the frozen udon noodles. When the water returns to a boil I add in baby shanghai bok choy and let it cook a minute before turning off the heat. And that’s it. A really quick and healthy meal that can be made for lunch or dinner.
All of these ingredients can be substituted easily if you can’t find something at your local supermarket. Any type of dumpling will work and tofu as well. You can try it with black mushrooms too. Same with the vegetable—any type will do. Baby bok choy, napa, chinese broccoli… whatever your heart desires. I usually like the baby size versions since they’re more tender and bite size, but if you can’t find that then chopping the vegetables will work too. You can get fancy too and add parsley or cilantro, maybe even some hot sauce if you like it spicy.
The ingredients that make up this dish are less than $20 and can last five to six meals for one person. To save time, I like to wash and cut up everything in advance. When I’m ready to prepare the meal, I just pull out the containers of cut up veggies, mushrooms and tofu from my fridge and add to the broth along with the frozen wontons and udon. Also, I find that when you wash the vegetables as soon as you bring them home from the market, they last much longer. So give it a try if you’re ever wondering what you should make for dinner. This one’s super simple and requires little effort while it’s still healthy and tasty.
Ingredients:
- Salt
- Chicken bouillon powder
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar
- Sesame oil
- Wontons or pork dumplings
- Shiitake mushrooms or black mushrooms
- Fish tofu or regular tofu
- Baby shanghai bok choy or baby bok choy
Thanks for sharing. I'm definitely gonna give it a shot. The thing is as a beginner cook, I would like measurements so I get it just right. With my primitive culinary knowledge, what do you think about 6 cups water, 3 tbsp chicken bouillon powder, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp vinegar (red?), and 1/2 tsp sesame oil?
I use a 2.5 quart pot and start with about 3.5 - 4 cups of water. The other thing you can do is use chicken broth instead of water and then you don't need to add the chicken bouillon powder. But if you don't have any chicken broth, then 3 tbsp sounds good. I probably add a bit more soy sauce, maybe 4-5 tbsp? And I've tried white and red vinegar. They both work. But I probably add a little less than 1/4 cup of it, I'm guessing. A teaspoon or two of sesame oil should do it for a bit of fragrance and a little flavor. But really, it all depends on your taste. You may like less or more of something so play around with the measurements until you like it the way you want.