Another of the recipes my dad learned on his youthful travels and passed on to me, this simple Japanese dish of panko cod with yakisoba noodles remains a comfort food for me to this day. Lovely to do it again and enjoy it al fresco.
This recipe serves two adults. Do the arithmetic if you have a a different number of diners in mind.
Shopping List
For the main dish, you can either make your own teriyaki (see below) or buy approx.150g of a decent store-bought teriyaki.
The main dish
2 large skinless fillets of cod (or similar white fish)
2 thumb's lengths of root ginger; finely grated
Approx. 600g yakisoba noodles; fresh or dried, boiled and drained
2 medium red bell peppers; sliced vertically
2 large shallots; vertically quartered and separated
2 large king oyster mushrooms; cut vertically into slices
Approx. 6 tbspns cornflour, sifted
1 egg, whisked
Approx. 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
Sunflower oil, as needed
Mirin, as needed
5 or 6 spring onions; chopped
Teriyaki
½ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 cloves finely grated garlic
1 large piece of fresh ginger, grated
¼ cup cold water
1 tablespoon corn starch (maize flour)
The side dish
200g fine green beans; topped and tailed
Approx. 50g spinach; finely chopped
2 tbspns sesame seeds; crushed with a pestle and mortar
A little toasted sesame oil
Cooking method
If making the teriyaki from scratch, do this first. You can do this up to 2 weeks before and store, sealed in the fridge.
The panko cod and yakisoba
Set up your "frying station". In three different, shallow containers: a) the sifted cornflour sprinkled evenly; b) a whisked raw egg; c) panko breadcrumbs
In a reasonably deep pan, pour sunflower oil until approx. 1 cm deep. Heat on a high heat. Once the oil is hot, in sequence, coat each cod fillet in the cornflour on both sides. Then dip it into the whisked egg bath, then press into the panko, sprinkling a little over the top and pressing down to ensure the panko adheres i.e. panko is generally more difficult to get to “stick” than traditional golden breadcrumbs
Fry in the oil, turning so that each fillet cooks evenly on both sides until the crumbs turn golden. When cooked, remove from the pan and drain off the excess oil on paper kitchen towel. NB: you can cook it in an air fryer (but spritz with a little oil and turn during cooking). Do not deep fry
Pour the remaining whisked egg into the remaining panko crumbs and roughly shape into a “cake”. Fry this in the oil, turning to ensure that both sides are golden
You can undertake this step up to 48 hours before serving and store in a sealed container in the fridge once drained and cooled
The side dish
Steam the green beans and spinach for approx. 3 mins using a microwave steamer—slightly longer if using a more traditional stove-top method. The beans should remain al dente
Heat a little toasted sesame oil in a pan or wok on a high heat. "Flash fry" the blanched beans and spinach together for no more than 2 mins. Add the crushed sesame seeds as you remove it from the heat
You can do this some time before and reheat in the microwave before serving or time it so that you flash fry the beans once you've already plated the main dish, using the remnants of juices of the main dish
The main dish
Heat the sesame oil on a medium/high heat in a wok. When hot, add the grated ginger and allow to sizzle for a few mins. Then, add the sliced shallots, stirring
When the shallots soften, add the sliced peppers, stirring regularly. When the peppers become soft, add the mushrooms. Add approx. 50% of the teriyaki and stir all the ingredients together, adding a little mirin if necessary to prevent sticking
Return the cooked cod and “panko cake” to a preheated oven, timing it so that they will be hot by the time you stir-fried noodles are ready—timing will depend on ovens. I usually use a halogen oven for this, knowing it won’t take more than 6 to 7 mins but more conventional ovens will take longer
Add the yakisoba noodles to your wok, pouring in the rest of the teriyaki sauce and stirring together with the other ingredients. Add a little mirin if necessary to prevent sticking. Again, wok temperatures will vary so this might take anything from 4 to 8 mins. When the noodles and ingredients are full cooked, remove from the heat and cover. Allow to rest while you prepare the cod and “panko
Cut the hot panko cod and "panko cake" into slices. Add to the top of your plated noodles. Garnish with the spring onions and serve
Variations
This is by default a pescatarian dish. For other great pescatarian versions, substitute large pieces of octopus, squid or large king prawns and fry in panko in the same way
For a veggie version, use large pieces of smoked tofu and treat much like the cod in the version above; frying in panko. Vegans can omit the egg wash
On the mushroom front, while I love this with king oyster mushrooms, shitake or even bog-standard large closed cup mushrooms work perfectly well
Pairings
On this particular occasion we had it with a 2022 Zárate Albariño, which worked really well; plucky enough to handle the sesame flavours, but not overwhelming the fish.
My brother-in-law Karel has already given his definitive pairings for a beef teriyaki dish. So, now he has more homework to consider a fishier proposition.
However, I most often eat this dish with sparkling water with a dash of lime or an Asahi Super Dry beer.
Commentaires