9/9/24: My friend, owner of J-Petal Poke and Japanese crepe restaurant, donated some salmon heads. I used the salmon heads for this pictorial recipe today and the fish scraps to feed my edible garden. It’s one of my daughters favorite version for stir fry udon noodle.
- Prep time: one hour
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Serving: fills up a 14-inch Hexclad pan or wok, makes 4-8 servings
- Notes: I used a 14-inch Hexclad wok
Ingredients:
- 4-6 large salmon fish heads
- 3 bundles of Shirakiku Japanese Udon Noodle
- 1 cup chopped Nebuka Bunching Onions
- 1 Tbsp fresh minced garlic
- fried shallots (optional)
- Oil (oil or vegetable)
Stir fry sauce:
- 3 Tbsp water
- 3 Tbsp ABC Sweet Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Viet Huong fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pure sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp black powder
Direction
1.. First, I cleaned the salmon fish heads and cut out the gills. Then I rinse the blood off. I was able to air fry three salmon heads at a time in the XXL Phillips Air Fryer at 400F for 20 minutes.
2. Then I demeat the flesh off the salmon heads. The fish cheeks are the most tender (not fatty) part of the salmon which both my kids love to eat most. They used to love eating the fatty eye sockets when they were toddlers, but not anymore. My friend gave me nine salmon fish heads and I was able to fill up two quarts of salmon meat or edible parts.
3. I cook the Shirakiku Japanese Udon Noodle. Make sure to wait for the water to boil first before putting the noodles in. I broke each of the three bundle of noodles off in halves before putting it into the boiing water. Cook on medium high for about 8. Noodles should have an al dente texture since it will continued to be cooked in the hot stir fry wok later. Strain the noodles in the colander and rinse with COLD water. The heat would not make the noodle mushy so that’s why I always rinse my noodles with cold water.
4. Mix the stir fry sauce.
5. Prep the bunching onions and minced the garlic. My kids do not like scallions but they will eat Taiwanese bunching onions or Nebuka bunching onions.
6. Get ready to cook! In my 14-inch Hexclad wok, I heat it up with about 1 and roast the minced garlic to light yellow. Quickly add in the salmon. (My salmon meat was cold from being refrigerated overnight so I stir fry it for a minute.). Add in the Japanese udon noodles and bunching onions are the same time.
7. Immediately drizzle in the stir fry sauce. Stir and mix on high heat for about 3 minutes or until bunchion onions are medium cooked. Remove the wok to a non heated surface. Transfer the stir fry noodle to serving plates or containers. Leaving the hot noodle in the hot wok will make it overcooked and mushy gross. Enjoy!
