In Search Of the Elusive Udon

Ok, I am trying to cook all sorts of new dishes. Tonight's meal was Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken and Cucumbers; something new from Cooking Light magazine. Not a difficult dish but one that requires new Asian flavors.

Shopping for this dish required quite a search in the Asian food section for Udon Noodles. This is tough to do when you have no idea what an Udon is or how they are squeezed into a noodle. After some delay in the Asian aisle I was able to locate a vacuum sealed container of 7.22 oz of semi-cooked Udon noodles. Since I needed only 8 oz I declared success and moved on.

That was Friday.

Monday evening it was time to cook the Cold Sesame Noodles. Having already made Pat's lunch dish (Bulgur Mint and Parsley Salad) it was time to move on to the main dish. Calling up the new item on the PC (I set the PC on the counter and read the recipe).

Imagine my surprise when I read that the dish calls for dried Udon noodles. I evaluated the situation and determined that the semi-cooked noodles were a single portion and not enough for three.

So, Pat and I headed back to Shaw's to find Dried Udon noodles.

There are no dried Udon noodles at Shaw's. We bought something that we might want to substitute. I suggested we try a local, nearby specialty store.

So we headed off to the Asian Market near our old house.

It turns out that "Asian" means Indian/Pakistani. Udon noodles are Japanese. We were out of luck. I hesitate to mention this but there were employment advertisements for package stores and a 7-11 by the door. They are not helping the stereotypes.

Pat was ready to give up but I drove off to find the elusive Udon.

Pat was amazed when we went to A. Dong's Oriental Market. There was the elusive Udon in 3 lb and 1 lb packages. Not bad. We chose the 1 lb package for $2.09. Remember, we only need 8 oz.

The meal took less than 30 minutes to prepare. As a bonus it also required Chili-Garlic Sauce which we already had on hand. Chili-Garlic Sauce is one of those specialty items I buy that Pat thinks that we will never use up. Ha Ha, it's half gone already.

Anyway, Pat does not like Udon noodles it turns out. They are too thick and a bit chewy, according to her. Stu and I really liked the Udon, however.

And, half the noodles are still uncooked. I must not waste them, Pat wouldn't like that. Maybe Curried Noodle Salad with Lamb,