noodles with bacon, cabbage and onion

This is a simple dish to make for an easy and delicious weekday (or weekend) meal. Bacon, cabbage and onions are an already an amazing combination—adding it to a bowl of noodles with a fried egg makes it even better.

Like the other recipes on this site, I came up with this late at night—I hadn't eaten much during the day but wanted something filling and savory. I didn’t have a ton of ingredients in the kitchen—but did have the remains of a semi- wilted cabbage, leftover bacon and an onion. It was enough.

This is a dish that you can definitely modify to your taste—but the base, or the humble heart of it—is what’ll keep you hooked :)

Ingredients:

For 2 servings:

• 2 cups of thinly sliced red cabbage (yes you can use green cabbage—but I think red cabbage makes it easier on the eyes)

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup of diced white onion

• 2-3 slices of chopped bacon (2 slices if thick cut, 3 slices otherwise)

• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce

• 4 teaspoons of sesame oil

• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

• 2 bunches of somen noodles (sometimes they are bunched into individual servings in the box, if not, each serving of noodles should be about 1 ½ inches in diameter)

Somen noodles, readily available at your local Korean grocery store

Directions:

For the bacon, cabbage and onion topping:

• Heat a pan to medium high heat, then put in the bacon, cabbage, onion and salt

• Cook/stir in the pan for about 5 minutes

• Lower the heat to medium, then add the fish sauce

• Cook/stir in the pan for an additional 1-2 minutes until the cabbage has cooked down and softened

For the noodles:

• Bring a pot to a boil

• Put in the noodles, being mindful of stirring the noodles (keep in mind, these things like to stick together—some people like to put a little oil in the water, I’ve found some vigilant stirring helps keep them separated)

• Boil the noodles for 4-6 minutes

• Drain the noodles, then rinse them with lukewarm water; drain again making sure you’ve taken out the excess water

For the eggs:

• Fry the eggs sunny side up (or over easy) in a pan, salt to taste

For assembly:

• In a bowl, combine the noodles with sesame oil and soy sauce; mix well (the amount of sesame oil and soy sauce listed above is for two servings of noodles; for one serving it should be 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and ½ teaspoon of soy sauce)

• Separate noodles for two servings

• Top with the bacon, cabbage, onion mixture

• Add the fried egg(s)

• Garnish with green onion, basil, chili peppers, hot sauce, furikake, etc, and enjoy!

I enjoy having a bowl with hot sesame oil drizzled on top—so good!