Sobameshi [Secret of Non-stick]

Sobameshi (そば飯 ), literally means noodles-rice, is pan fried noodles together with steamed rice. It is a common Japanese home-cooked dish that my boys like. Whenever I have leftover of fried noodles, I will keep it in the fridge even a small amount. And, make into sobameshi with other ingredients available in the fridge at times.

Having said it is a Japanese dish but the flavour is up to individual, such as black pepper, kimchi flavour, sambal belacan and so forth. For my boys I always cooked non-spicy version with heaps of chopped vegetables. 

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):
1 cup yellow noodles
1 cup steamed rice (leftover will be good)
¼ cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped lettuce
½ cup grated carrot
¼ cup tuna flakes (canned tuna)
1 no. large egg
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Black pepper

Toppings:
Furikake (optional)
Nori flakes
Tomato

Methods:

1. Heat oil in pan/wok, add in chopped onion and cook until onion is translucent.
2. Add in egg, stir to break the egg and cook until the egg is almost set.
3. Add in noodles and rice, stir to mix and use spatula to cut noodles into small pieces.
4. Add in carrot, soy sauce and tuna flakes together with the liquid. Stir fry for about 2 minutes (longer if using rice straight from the fridge).
5. Add in salt and pepper to taste, and lettuce. Stir to mix.
6. Turn the heat off and transfer to serving plates. Garnish with nori flakes and tomato, serve warm.
    
   Cook's note:
   If using leftover fried noodles, add in step (4).

At some points, many of us will invest on non-stick cookwares. My main reason for my very first non-stick wok about 10 years ago was to reduce oil consumption in cooking, especially pan-fried dishes. After some times, I found out that the best wok/pan is still the old fashion steel wok. I could not use non-stick pan for cooking crab (we love chilli crab), chicken with sharp bone, etc. Now, I use old fashion wok for 90% of my cooking including non-Chinese dishes. Until today, I have not found a 100% non-stick non-stick pan. Any good one around?

When I was younger, I always asked my mom "Why is my fish sticking onto the wok, but when you fried it would not stick?" She always said "Use stronger fire (heat)". Until recent years, through experiences and research, I can use my old fashion wok as if a non-stick wok.

Just follow these simple steps, you can use much lesser amount of oil in cooking your favourite Chinese stir-fried dishes. As you can see in the photo, my sobameshi was not greasy and non-sticking to wok at all.

1. Heat up pan/wok with medium heat until it is really hot before adding in oil.
2. Then, add in small amount of oil and swirl the pan/wok to coat. You should be able to see some smoke as it reaches smoke point. 
3. You can also use a paper towel to grease the pan/wok, make sure the heat is turned to low when you are doing so. After greasing, turn the heat up again until it reaches smoke point.
4. Turn the heat down, add in the rest of oil as stated in recipe and start cooking as normal.