Guardian Girl

Udon noodles with walnut and miso

Worm noodles with walnut and miso

This meal exceeded all my expectations, it really did. Unsurprisingly I couldn’t find Kombu, dashi, miso paste or even mirin at the supermarket. I would happily support my local Asian grocer if only it were on my way home from work and open at 9pm. I’m lucky enough to live in a place where I could probably get my hands on most ingredients the world has to offer with relatively little effort so I should try harder, but try telling me that at dinnertime. Forget heart and mind: the belly rules in my household.

Udon noodles are lovely big squidgy worms – the kind of thing I like to eat – and despite flinching while pouring in a whole tablespoon of sugar at the end, I loved the taste of the sauce. Instead of miso paste I just poured in a packet of instant miso soup. The other ingredients I left out. I haven’t cooked with garlic and ginger for a while and had forgotten how splendid they taste together.

Also a bit of a revelation as far as food prep is concerned: I cut my spring onions into actual (kind of) julienne things! No idea where this sudden bolt of patience sprang from but let’s hope it sticks around for a while.

Conclusions:

• Top marks for this one, cheers Yotam.
• Deep-fried aubergine is bloody lovely and heatproof tongs (thanks Ads) are good for turning the cubes over in crackling fat as if roasting chestnuts on a fire – albeit with none of the cosiness, but you take what you can get in bedsitland.