Food: Yaki Soba

I haven't made Yaki Soba yet but foraged for ingredients today. I needed some stuff from the Asian market. I found soba noodles, found pickled ginger (gari) and was looking for dried shallots. A handsome Asian gentleman asked me if I needed help, so I asked him about light versus dark soy sauce. He explained but it didn't exactly make a lot of sense and there was a bit of communication disconnect for me. I feel this is HIS market; the burden to understand is on ME. While there were many soy sauces on the shelves, most of the labels were not in English as a first language. Initially, I thought "light soy sauce" would be lighter and so looked for a light-colored soy sauce, but they were all black and opaque. Then I read that "light is used in cooking and is the one most commonly referred to in the recipes. Dark soy is much saltier and is used to give stronger color and flavor." I think that is what the gentleman also said. (So what is Kikkoman's I wondered? Light or dark?)

I still feel a bit out of place in this market as 60 to 70% of the products are not familiar and I am not always certain exactly what I need, so I usually just wander up and down the aisles looking at the strange (to me) products, kind of fascinated. Most, but not all, do have some English labeling....sort of.

Well, after his explanation, I asked him what the soy sauces on the shelves were. He only hesitated a few seconds and then with confidence said that they were "medium" meaning, I guess, neither dark nor light....just medium. OK, I accepted that and decided to just use Kikkoman's for now until I figure this out.

So then I asked him if he had "dried shallots" and he pointed to the refrigerator where I found dried shrimps but no dried shallots. I kept wandering about and found "fried shallots" on a shelf and thought perhaps I had misread the recipe and it was "fried" not "dried" so I bought fried shallots which looked somewhat like green bean casserole fried onions but also a bit like meal worms and browned oat granola.

I have the red and green peppers, shrimp, chicken, onion, scallions, bean sprouts...so will probably make this tomorrow. BTW, Yaki soba is a dipping sauce with 1/2 cup LIGHT soy sauce and 1 teaspoon DARK soy sauce along with salt and sugar, 2 teaspoons each. I think I'll google soy sauces.....

PS: Several weeks later I was in the market again wandering the aisles and in the soy sauce aisle, there were boxes on the floor. I happened to check out what was in one box and, voila! it was LIGHT SOY SAUCE. I still am not certain exactly what the differences are, but perhaps this was ordered because I inquired??? Do you think?

I now need to go find gyoza skins to make epi gyoza...

And this is one of the many confusing hits with totally conflicting information as to the saltiness....

LIGHT VS. DARK SOY
This is an extremely complicated subject for a variety of reasons. First there are so many different kinds and brands of soy. Not only light and dark, but thick, sweet, Phillipine, Chinese, Japanese, Thai etc. Then there are different brewing methods using differing ingredients....Basically light soy is saltier and thinner while dark has a molasses flavor component and the ability to color dark sauces while using a small amount of soy. Specifically I prefer light Japanese soy - I usually use Kikkoman - and mix it with Chinese dark - usually Amoy Golden Label from HK. Typically for a stir fry I use a 3:1 proportion, light to dark. When it's available, the Kikkoman which is imported from Japan, is better than our domestically brewed Kikkoman.