Cantonese Style Braised Udon with Ham

Gloomy weekend hit again despite the fact that we are still in summer. Ms.Sun refused to come out to play instead Mr. Rain did. It rained since the morning and temperature dropped till 14 degrees. Welcome to the summer in northern Europe.

I was craving for something soupy and warm. A bowl of clear udon soup would be too simple to ease my misery for the gloomy depression, hence Phoebe suggested a pot of steaming Cantonese style hot braised udon with thick egg gravy. It sounded great ... but I did have limited ingredients in the fridge. The essential fish balls or vegetable balls  were "temporary out of stock" from my pantry as I have not replenish the stock for quite sometimes. Same old excuse - I am too busy!!

Phoebe the  creative chef came to the rescue. The 'chef' made used of the ingredients available in the pantry to put up a super delicious braised udon. The secret ingredient which made the dish scored is non other the ham. Yes, you heard it right, the cold-cut ham slices which we usually eat with bread for breakfast. The saltiness of the ham added the magic touch to the overall dish where the udon and gravy were packed with the soothing smokiness taste. You may keep the sodium usage to minimum as the saltiness from the ham is just about right.

Ingredients
2 packets of udon 
30g of ham (cut into strips)
2-3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tbsp cooking oil
2 beaten eggs
Chinese cabbage (cut into bite size)
Carrot (sliced)
Scallion as garnishing

Sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups of water
2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tbsp white vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Steps
1. Cook the udon in hot water for 2 min. Drain and run the udon under cold water to remove the excess starch.
2. Heat up some cooking oil in the pan, stir fry the minced garlic till aroma.
3. Add in the Chinese cabbage, carrots, ham, sauce and bring to boil.
4. Add in the udon and simmer until the udon soaked up the broth.
5. Add in the beaten egg.

Sprinkle some scallion on top of the udon and serve. Not a complex dish but a dish with great flavours. Try out the recipe and you may like it.