Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t put noodles on bread. “It’s so heavy!” “That’s too unhealthy!” “Think of all that carb-on-carb action!” They may protest vehemently, but they’ll be wrong. Yakisoba pan has been a konbini staple since the 1950s, keeping hungry salary men full and fed ever since. Perhaps if convenience stores in the US could embrace the pasta sandwich, we would all be a bit better off.

Making The Case For Yakisoba Pan

Few other grab-and-go meals can beat that affordability, longevity, and satisfaction. Wrap these sandwiches up for school lunch, travel snacks, late night munchies; you name it. They’re every bit as comforting at any temperature or time of day. Typically, the noodles nestled inside are more like ramen noodles made primarily with white flour, but buckwheat soba makes more sense to me, given the name and added nutrition. Even if you splurge on the highest quality—which you should, given how much each component counts—you’ll still be able to feed an army on a budget.

Fun On A Bun

Think about it merely as yakisoba, AKA stir-fried soba noodles, packaged in an edible container. If you’d consider pairing garlic bread with spaghetti and meatballs, you’re already there. The soft hoagie roll yields easily to the earthy wheat noodles within, seasoned simply with soy sauce and sesame oil. Typically, there’s little more than a bit of pickled ginger for garnish on top, but I prefer to add some veggies for more texture and flavor. Any old frozen vegetable mix will do; the last thing I want to do is make this into a whole production. Yakisoba pan is simple, first and foremost. Add whatever you want and leave out what you don’t.

Newsworthy Noodles

Can we start a new movement that embraces bread as the vehicle for more foods? Yes, even MORE than we currently regard as acceptable, of which I’m aware there’s an extensive list. The fact of the matter is, there’s nothing that doesn’t work well as a sandwich, soba noodles included.

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