Broccoli Shiitake Somen

Wow, I'm just now coming up for air. I was working 12 hour days right before the holidays. I still have to post my Thanksgiving feast, but first try this light (as in not how heavy Thanksgiving food can be) dish that's simple and easy to make. Good especially if you're tired of cooking and eating Thanksgiving leftovers. Or if you just want a break from rich food. All you need are a few ingredients.

Ingredients:
Shiitake Mushrooms
Broccoli
Somen Noodles
4 Tbsp Vegetarian Oyster Sauce
1 Cup Vegetable Broth
1 Tbsp Canola Oil or Sesame Oil

Boil somen noodles in vegetable broth. Prepare broccoli and shiitake mushrooms. Slice and chop. Take a pan and sauté mushrooms and broccoli in oil. Sauté until broccoli has soften and turned bright green. Mushrooms should soften as well. Cover for a few minutes while you drain the somen noodles. Make sure to keep about 1/4 cup of vegetable broth to add to the noodles once you are finished with the vegetables.

Uncover veggies and add oyster sauce. Stir until ingredients are mixed well. Place noodles in a bowl, stir in veggies, add in broth. Add additional amounts of oyster sauce as needed.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Spicy Chinese Inspired Scramble

Broccoli, tofu and bean sauce are featured in this dish. It's easy, I promise!

Required: Broccoli, Bean Sauce (you can get this in any Asian grocery store), Spices (black pepper or Sri Ra Cha - pictured here), Sesame Oil or Canola Oil

Optional: Somen Noodles or Rice, Tofu, Peanuts or Cashews, Chili Oil

I always have to have carbs with my dishes, thus the Somen. But you can make this without noodles or rice. If you want to make the noodles, I would suggest boiling the noodles first. If you are making rice, you should prepare it well in advance. The noodles took less than 5 minutes to cook.

While the noodle was boiling. I crumbled the tofu. (After the noodles were finished boiling, I added some Sesame and Hot Chili Oil as well as a little soy sauce to the drained noodles.) You can use a fork for mushing. Then I used about 1 to 2 tablespoons to oil a pan with sesame oil. I let the pan heat up. I added pre-chopped broccoli into the pan and sauteed for a bit. I like my broccoli crispy but not soft; use your own judgement here. After I decided the broccoli was almost where I wanted it, I added the crumbled tofu. I then took another 1 to 2 tablespoons of black bean sauce and added to the mix. Black bean sauce is very salty so there's no need to add salt. (I learned this the hard way once.) After that, you have to push everything around in the pan until the ingredients are mingling well enough. Cook to taste. I added a little black pepper and Sri Ra Cha which is Chinese hot sauce.

This saute went over Somen noodles.

Done in 20 minutes!