TtoE Yakiu don to tide you over on a typhoon day

The summer heat seems to be over, followed by dreary weather in the Kanto region for weeks. Tonight, Typhoon Dujuan, or Typhoon 25, headed for the Kanto region in this rare stretch of Silver Week holidays. My high school principal sent an email this morning imploring teachers and students to observe 自粛, jishuku, restraint, and stay home for the day. So much for the rare long Silver Week 2026. 

So, while I'm shut in, I'm making yakiudon variants. You can make this dish in the time it takes to order delivery. For inspiration, I looked at both Just One Cookbook and Recipe Tin Eats. The former provides instructions on the website and in YouTube videos. Both provide imperial, metric, and U.S. measures.

The recipe is adaptable. It's great for using small amounts of veggies lingering in your fridge and accommodating various dietary requirements. I'm not a big pork fan, so my second version uses chicken. I also garnished the dish with cherry tomatoes. While searching for variants, I found some that use salmon and seafood. Go wild and try different combos.

No matter which variation I use, I keep coming back to the simplest. I season the dish with めんつゆ, mentsuyu, the concentrated soup base, salt, and pepper. It doesn't need punchy sauces. The ingredients provide a lot of flavour.

What's your interpretation of yaki udon?