From Suzume · 2022 · Reconstructed
Suzume's Yaki Udon
Serve when
Serve it hot off the griddle with a scoop of potato salad on the side — the meal Suzume cooks for a stranger who took her in, kindness repaid in a plate of noodles.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 00:52:50 On her road trip across Japan, Suzume is taken in by the owner of a small snack bar, and repays the kindness by cooking — serving up fried udon with a side of Japanese potato salad. It's one of the film's warm bonding-over-food moments, strangers becoming, briefly, family.
Suzume is a road movie about kindness passed hand to hand across a grieving country, and its food scenes are where that kindness becomes literal — a stranger feeds Suzume, and Suzume cooks in return. The yaki udon is that whole idea on a plate: comfort you make for someone else, offered by people who owe each other nothing but give anyway.
Ingredients
- For the sauce:
Method
- Stir-fry the pork over high heat until it colours and no pink remains, then add the onion, carrot, and cabbage and toss until just tender.
- Add the udon and the sauce, tossing hard so every noodle gets coated and a little caramelized at the edges.
- Pile into bowls and finish with bonito flakes, a dusting of aonori, and pickled ginger.
- Serve with a scoop of cold Japanese potato salad on the side, exactly as Suzume does.
Substitutions
- Mirin: sake with a little sugar, or rice vinegar with sugar to keep it alcohol-free.
- Oyster sauce: hoisin thinned with a splash of soy, or extra soy with a pinch of sugar, for a pantry or vegetarian swap.
Beyond the recipe
Watch & shop
As an Amazon Associate, FlixNFood earns from qualifying purchases.