in the mood for food
Recipe: ginger scallion noodles
I love these shooting road trips for the incredible places and sights Jeremy and I get to see and share together, but I love them just as much for the wonderful feeling of coming back home. We drove 3200 miles through five states. No matter if we slept in motels or in the dirt, we were always up at ridiculous hours. Sometimes we woke at 3 am to get someplace before sunrise. Sometimes we could “sleep in” until 5:30 because our sunrise shoot was only an hour away. That 3 am wake up always makes me feel a little pukey. Always. Jeremy made sure there was enough gas in the car and I made sure there was enough coffee in Jeremy. Shooting conditions were far from ideal, but you make the most of it because that is what you do in photography, as in life.
shooting in the snow
…and in the salt
We had to make a last minute change of plans because Mother Nature was operating on her own schedule, so we chased a rumor. We chased it into the coast ranges of California with only a few hours to search. But what a feast for the eyes when we found what we were looking for.
a little orange flowering plant called the fiddleneck
along with other little flowers, they covered the hillslopes
i felt like i was walking on a king cake!
You can see more of these vast expanses of fiddlenecks, California poppies, mustard, goldfields, baby blue eyes, hillside daisies, vetch, phacelia, tidy tips, and owl’s clover on my photo blog.
It’s good to sleep in my own bed. It’s good to have a freshly washed puppy dog sprawling out on the sunny deck. Most of all? I am loving our access to fresh fruits and vegetables and ice cold water! It’s so very nice to cook again because on the road, there just isn’t the time when you are chasing the sun and anticipating where you need to be at what hour as you make your way from the Rockies to the Sierra. I haven’t been buying cookbooks at all in the past year because I don’t have the room or even the time to flip through them, but I knew there was one book I absolutely wanted to get my grubby little paws on… Momofuku by David Chang. For the last 600 miles home, I had those ginger scallion noodles on my brain.
some quick knife work
mix the sauce
In the little world that is my head, I imagine a few core starter ingredients when I make Chinese food: green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking sherry, vinegar. Momofuku (I just love saying that word) is about the Asian fusiony awesomeness of the hip and happening noodle bar in New York City. Reading about the ginger scallion noodles, first on other blogs and then in the book itself, I figured I could take a few liberties of my own and call it dinner. Woohoo!
a leafy cabbage
boiling the noodles
The sauce is so bloody simple, I am already planning to make vats of it: oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and scallions. Stir and let sit. I made a half batch in case I didn’t like it. What was I thinking? I didn’t have sherry vinegar on hand. In fact, I had never heard of it. I subbed in rice wine vinegar and a dash of balsamic. Sounds odd, but it worked just fine. While the sauce chilled for 20 minutes, I boiled the noodles and prepped some vegetables to stir fry.
cabbage, sprouts, green onions, bamboo shoots
a quick sauté with some oil and salt
After draining the noodles, I tossed them with the sauce and realized that instead of making a half batch of sauce I should have tripled it. Thankfully, it’s not a labor intensive process. There will be more sauce. Oh yes, there will.
toss with sauce
top with vegetables and a dollop of hoisin sauce
Chang said they omit the hoisin sauce at their noodle bar because there is hoisin in the pork belly buns. I whimpered out loud when I read that. I had no such pork belly buns on hand (oh, but I will… I will…) so I opted the hoisin sauce BACK in. Those are some damn good noodles. Damn good.
i told you i was a noodle girl
Ginger Scallion Noodles
[print recipe]
Momofuku by David Chang
the sauce
2 1/2 cups scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh ginger, peeled and minced fine
1/4 cup vegetable oil (grapeseed or something without a flavor)
1 1/2 tsps light soy sauce, I used more
3/4 tsp sherry vinegar, I used more
3/4 tsp kosher salt plus more to taste
Mix together in a bowl and let sit for 20 minutes.
the rest
12 oz. ramen noodles (get a good kind, the noodles matter)
2 tbsps vegetable oil
3 cups cabbage, shredded
2 cups sprouts
2 stalks green onions, sliced thin on the diagonal
1 cup bamboo shoots
hoisin sauce (optional)
While the sauce is sitting, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles. When the noodles are ready, drain them. Dry the pot and pour in the vegetable oil. Heat on high flame and add the green onions when the oil is hot. Stir the green onions for 15 seconds then add the cabbage. Stir-fry the cabbage until it begins to wilt then add the sprouts. When the sprouts begin to wilt, toss in the bamboo shoots and stir-fry for another minute then remove from heat. Place the noodles and the sauce in a large bowl together and toss to coat the noodles evenly. Top or toss in the stir-fried vegetables and top with hoisin sauce.
March 29th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Want some! These look light and filling and so good. I’ll just use tamari and I’m good.
Welcome home, you. We missed you!
March 29th, 2010 at 9:02 am
That was the first thing I made out of the Momofuku book. Love ’em. love that book but I haven’t had time to make much more. Great flower photos, so colorful. I really like the fourth one down.
March 29th, 2010 at 9:22 am
I want those noodles for breakfast!
Everything from the Momofuku cookbook looks wonderful, I must buy a copy.
Love your photo of the fiddleneck flowers (which I’ve never heard of…)
Happy Spring!
March 29th, 2010 at 9:39 am
I haven’t had ramen noodles in ages, and your photos and recipe are giving me a serious craving! This looks incredible. I encourage you to track down Sherry vinegar when you get a chance. I really love using it. The photos of California in bloom are spectacular. What an amazing trip and opportunity!
March 29th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Looks great! Let me know if you’ve got a favorite spot to buy the ramen in the greater Boulder area (I’m down at Pacific Ocean Marketplace on Alameda occasionally, but would love a closer spot) – I’ve only bought the 6 for $1 variety…
March 29th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Mmm… scallions and noodles… two of my favorite things :)
March 29th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Oh my. I’ve been addicted to this Momofuku (and yes it IS fun to say… But it’s even more fun to listen to my sons try to say it.) sauce since Melissa (Alosha’s Kitchen) introduced it to me. I’ve taken to wearing it as perfume.
I confess that despite the recipe coming from Noodle Bar, I’ve not yet put it on noodles. Fish, chicken, pork, potstickers, a spoon? Yes. In abundance, but not noodles. I’ll remedy that this weekend with your take on the noodles. Thanks for the inspiration!
March 29th, 2010 at 10:59 am
I have *yet* to get my hands on good ramen noodles let alone the Momofuku book which is on my wishlist. Beautiful pictures as always. I can’t wait to get my hands on both so I can make me some scrumptious noodles! : )
March 29th, 2010 at 11:17 am
I am not eating pasta (and noodles) right now, but I think this will be my first pasta when I eat again. I have the book on my nightstand and am dreaming of things out of it every night!
March 29th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
I am SO GLAD that I found your site through foodgawker. Just browsed through some of your images–gorgeous. What a terrific way to spend my afternoon away from work! Will be checking in again. And I’m making these noodles for my in-laws. Thanks.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Ah! I see you’ve also succumbed to the lure of Momofuku! That sauce is like Asian crack! I keep a vat of it in my fridge and dump it on almost everything. You must try the bo ssam. To. Die. For. I can’t wait to make those buns next!
March 29th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
It so does look like a King cake. Your such a foodie, comparing a landscape to a cake.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I will keep this on my brain!!
And I’m hopping over to your photo blog for more nature porn!
March 29th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Looks so amazing both the beautiful fiddlenecks and the Momofuku! The noodles look so tasty…
March 29th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Welcome back Jen!!! I will have to try this although, I’m really not a fan of raw ginger…do you think it will be okay if I left it out? :-/
March 30th, 2010 at 2:54 am
Mmmm… when I saw the photo of the scallions being dropped in, I knew it was going to be good!
Oh btw, what IS king cake?
March 30th, 2010 at 9:38 am
beautiful food and beautiful food photos!
March 30th, 2010 at 10:47 am
This dish actually reminds me a little of a vegetarian version of your moo shu, but of course on noodles instead of wrapped in mu shu shells. (I never know how to spell the mu/moo to go along with the shu; did you like how hedged my bets there?) I’m a huge fan of saucy masses of vegetables accompanying carbs; also of delicious sauces that take no cooking; also of hoisin.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:08 am
This sounds amazing, I’ve not made a Momofuku recipe yet (despite hearing so much about it) but think I’m gonna give this one a try. Question: how many does it serve? Four?
March 30th, 2010 at 11:26 am
That darn Momofuko cookbook has had me chasing sherry vinegar all over Los Angeles (Whole Foods has yielded nothing, but Sur La Table had it). I somehow missed this recipe, which looks terrific.
March 31st, 2010 at 9:04 am
Made these noodles last night – amazing! Have you tried the Momofuku “Put in anything you want” cookies? I am psyched to make them tonight…. and leftovers of my noodles for lunch today. Thanks!
April 1st, 2010 at 6:32 am
Yep, I see this is in my future. Sounds so simple and looks good.
April 1st, 2010 at 6:54 pm
those hillside pictures are beautiful! may i know where in california did you go?
April 5th, 2010 at 8:45 am
Phoo-D – thanks, I did get my hands on some sherry vinegar. So now I’m good to go :)
Bing – Actually, I went to H-Mart in Aurora and picked up some Hong Kong pan fried noodles (they aren’t fried, but they are for the pan fried noodle dish). I made this a second time with those noodles and they were heavenly. Mmmmm!
Susan @ SGCC – yes, I HAVE succumbed :) It’s awesome!!
Lori – You’d be amazed at how often food comes up on the photo shoots ;)
Shoshanna – it will certainly be different, but you can probably leave it out (or if you want, you can strain out the ginger – but the flavor is lovely).
Daiming – king cake is a traditional cake served around Mardi Gras. It’s sprinkled with colored sugars (purple, green, yellow) and has a plastic baby baked into it somewhere. Whoever gets the baby in their slice is king for a day.
Bridget – yeah, I essentially threw together vegetables I had on hand… it’s a good combo.
Indigo – yes, I’d say four for the recipe.
Liz – I haven’t gotten to the cookies yet. Still flipping through the book :)
Serene – I was in the coast range of California east of Paso Robles.
April 6th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
I waited 5 DAYS to make this AWESOME recipe (I was observing passover, so….you know, no noodles, bread, cookies, etc). omg was it AMAZING. really easy to make too. i loved the sauce on the ramen and could have eaten the noodles with the sauce alone! i put the hoisen in with the veggies in a wok and it tasted great (instead of dolloping on top of the whole plate). WHOA, shocked to see I’m not the only Shoshana commenting! Awesome.
Love this blog and the pictures. Great recipe thanks for sharing!
April 8th, 2010 at 4:08 am
[…] to me to do something about my hunger pangs. Not one to ignore to calls of my stomach, I remembered this post I read on userealbutter. Ginger scallion noodles – the perfect late-night supper slash […]
April 11th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Looks yummmy!
January 10th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Jen, I’m a noodle girl, too!
Where and what noodles do you get? I’m in Boulder. I have a hard time getting fresh noodles here.
12 oz ramen noodles (get a good kind, the noodles matter)
January 11th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Nancy – try POM in Broomfield or H Mart in Aurora – they carry both fresh and dried. Asian Seafood Market doesn’t carry fresh noodles as far as I know, but some of the dried noodles aren’t good quality there – I’ve had mixed results.
September 7th, 2014 at 5:28 pm
[…] them a bit less simple – chopped nuts on top, more crunchy ingredients, more toppings – Jen of Use Real Butter adds mung bean sprouts, hoisin, cabbage, and bamboo shoots, for example. If you come up with other […]