Udon noodles with miso mince sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 600 g Udon noodles, fresh or pre-cooked, alternatively spaghetti
• 500 g minced beef
• 1 leek(s)
• 3 spring onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• ¼ cucumber(s)
• 250 g miso paste, 50:50 light and dark, otherwise only dark
• 80 g ginger
• 8 tbsp soy sauce
• 200 ml sake
• 50 ml Mirin, alternatively sake or water
• 3 tbsp sugar
• salt and pepper
• Oil for frying

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 35 minutes

Wash the leek, shake it dry, halve it lengthwise, and cut into thin strips. You can also slice it first and then wash it in a sieve under running water; this is easier. Peel the ginger and cut it as finely as possible. I usually make fine strips, but you can also grate it. Peel the garlic and chop it finely. Combine these three ingredients. Wash the spring onions as well. Trim off the top, green part and add it in rings if desired. Cut the rest of the onions into thin strips. Wash the cucumber, halve it, and then cut it into thin pieces, strips, or quarters. Add a little oil to a pan or, ideally, a wok and heat briefly. Once the oil is hot, add the leek, garlic, and ginger and fry briefly until it starts to smell. Then add the minced meat and fry until crumbly. Season with a little pepper. Mix the sake, mirin, miso paste, soy sauce, and sugar, pour it over the minced meat, and simmer until thickened; this takes about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the noodles and toss briefly in the sauce again. If using packaged udon noodles, simmer for about 2 minutes. If using pre-cooked noodles, just heat them briefly in the sauce. Sprinkle the cucumber and spring onions over the dish or stir them in just before removing from the heat, then leave them on the heat for a maximum of 1 minute to keep the cucumber crunchy. A quick Japanese dish. I got it from a cookbook and adapted it slightly.