I worked from home today, which meant I got to make myself a hot lunch that wasn’t leftovers heated up in the microwave at the office. I didn’t want to be away from my work for too long, though, so what I ended up making took little more time than heating up leftovers would have.

Super-Fast Udon in a Simple Broth

For one serving:

1 bundle of udon
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp vegan “beef” broth concentrate
4 oz tomato sauce (1/2 a small can)
1 clove garlic, pressed (or to make it even faster and easier, 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1/2 tsp ginger, grated (or 1/4 tsp ginger powder)

Prepare the udon according to package directions (ie, boil in plenty of water until just al dente).

While the udon is cooking, bring remaining ingredients to a boil, then simmer until noodles are ready.

Place the noodles into a bowl, then pour the broth over them. Enjoy!

A brief story about my udon bowl: my paternal grandmother had these small bowls with colorful flowers imprinted on the interior bottom of them and she’d always make Jello in them when I was over there. I was for some reason fascinated with them and always very excited about tearing through the Jello to get to the flowers. Many years later, a friend of mine had a gift certificate for one of those pottery places where you can go paint something and pick it up a few days later after they’ve fired it, and she asked me to go with her. I chose to make an udon bowl as I’d always wanted one, and when deciding how to paint it, I decided I wanted to paint flowers inside it like my grandmother’s Jello bowls. It turns out, however, that I have no artistic abilities whatsoever, so I painted something more star-like than flower-like:

But every time I slurp through my noodles, I think of my grandmother’s bowls and all the wonderful things she used to cook. (I realize making Jello isn’t actually “cooking”, but she cooked a lot of other stuff.)

The problem, of course, is that this all transpired before I met Mark, so now he always complains that I get the “cool” bowl when I make noodles. Guess I need to buy (or make) another udon bowl!