Just because two things taste great, doesn’t mean they always taste great together.
One day, Mr. Sato was eating a pack of Peyang instant fried noodles when it dawned on him: these so-called “fried noodles” aren’t fried at all!
He was right. Like most instant noodles, Peyang is simply made by soaking in hot water for a few minutes, kind of like…rice.
The carb-fueled gears in Mr. Sato’s head began spinning wildly as he began to grasp the importance of this correlation.
In the end he hypothesized that if rice is yummy and instant noodles are really yummy, then rice cooked along with instant noodles should be exponentially yummy, perhaps even more than the sum of its parts.
This was an exciting revelation, so Mr. Sato wasted no time formulating a recipe and got to work. We’d now like to share his findings so that everyone can unlock this flavor potential.
Mr. Sato’s Rice and Peyang
Ingredients
- Peyang Instant Yakisoba with Sauce
- Rice
- Water
First, add an amount of rice that you feel would match the Peyang noodles evenly. Then, add the water needed to cook it. After that, just chuck on your brick of dried noodles.
Don’t forget to add the dried toppings.
You’re probably exhausted at this point in the recipe, so you might want to take a break and watch a newsreel or something. Once you’ve regained your strength, pour on the sauce.
Normally, the sauce is added after the noodles are softened, but this way the sauce will be cooked into the rice for a deeper flavor.
Mr. Sato found the biggest challenge was balancing the amount of water. Too much water would dilute the sauce and make it too weak. Too little water and the rice wouldn’t cook properly.
Deciding to err on the side of flavor, he held back on the water, making sure there was just enough to cook the rice and no more. After that, all that was left was to close the lid and hit “cook.”
It should take about 30 minutes for the rice cooker to work its magic, so why not watch this video of 13 Japanese Pokemon songs back-to-back and watch the time fly by!
By the time the Machoke Movers commercial wrapped up, so too did Mr. Sato’s Rice and Peyang. He lifted the lid and saw…
▼ Mr. Sato: “Oh, I wasn’t expecting that.”
It looked as if the upper half of the Peyang brick didn’t soften at all. Clearly, Mr. Sato had given into the fear of weak sauce and it cost him dearly in the form of tender noodles. Nevertheless he continued forward in the name of science.
He placed a small sample of Rice and Peyang into a bowl with a little garnish for a tasting and took a bite. The crunchy noodles were disconcerting but the Peyang taste had definitely married with the rice, and it was damn good.
But it was also kind of weak. So, even though Mr. Sato made the poor decision of not using enough water, his fear of a weak sauce still came true. The entire scientific foundation of Rice and Peyang appeared to be crumbling before Mr. Sato’s eyes, but he was ready with an ace up his sleeve.
Luckily, just this past summer Peyang began selling bottles of their sauce separately for those wanting to boost their instant noodles or add its unique flavor to other foods. In this case Mr. Sato was doing both and it worked!
So while Mr. Sato’s first Rice and Peyang was less than perfect, the concept was there. Learning from his mistakes, anyone who attempts this dish should consider adding more than the usual amount of water, but also adding some extra bottled Peyang to compensate and achieve that strong cooked-in flavor.
Be careful not to use too much of either though, or you risk drowning out all other flavors. Like anything in life, moderation is the key.
Also, if Mr. Sato’s Rice and Peyang recipe was a little too simple for your liking, you can always take your instant noodle cooking to the next level by attempting our homemade Sour Cream and Onion Pringles yakisoba.
Images: SoraNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]
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