Readers of this blog may recall that I posted a recipe for pasta with cabbage and walnuts and parmesan. An unlikely set of ingredients, I thought, and yet the resulting dish was remarkably good. Well, here we are again with a recipe with noddles and cabbage. Mushrooms this time and no walnuts, but if anything, this dish is tastier than the pasta and cabbage dish. And it's vegetarian. Painlessly deliciously vegetarian. By substituting margarine for butter, it becomes vegan. Also from the NYT and also fast and easy.

The ingredients:

1 package wide udon noodles;

1 lb. cremini mushroom, sliced;

about 1 tablespoon smushed garlic;

3 tablespoons honey;

4 tablespoons salted butter;

about 2 cups finely sliced cabbage;

2 tablespoons vegetable oil;

2 finely sliced scallions;

3 tablespoons soy sauce;

salt and pepper;

some sesame seeds.

I started a pot of water for the noodles and then sliced the scallions, smushed the garlic and thinly sliced the cabbage.

Next I washed and sliced the mushrooms. I ended up with about 5 cups of mushroom slices. This was the most time-consuming part of the whole meal.

I heated the oil in a big skillet until it shimmered and then dumped in the mushrooms. I turned the heat to medium high and let them cook, stirring now and then for about 6 or 7 minutes. I think I stirred the mushrooms 5 or 6 times. 

After the cooking period, the mushrooms had reduced in volume and had began to brown around the edges. 

I added the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Less pepper than salt. 

The udon noodles cooked for 7 minutes (package instructions); then I drained them and put them in cold water to stop them from getting overcooked. 

When I could smell the garlic, I added 2 tablespoons of the honey and 3 tablespoons of the butter.

Addition of honey!

I stirred the butter and honey in and then added...

the cabbage followed immediately by....

the noodles (which I had drained again) and all of the soy sauce.

I stirred and cooked the whole mixture for about 2 or 3 minutes.

Then I took it off the stove and stirred in the last tablespoon of honey and the last tablespoon of butter.

I plopped it into a serving bowl and sprinkled it with the scallions and the sesame seeds. 

By the way, if you are a vegan's vegan, you can use maple syrup instead of honey.

This is so pretty that it deserves a full screen picture. We had it as a main course with salad and berries and yogurt. There were leftovers, although they went fast.