Carbonara gets an Asian glow-up thanks to the addition of Japanese udon noodles. As well as giving you chewy, comforting noodle epicness in every bite, they do a great job of soaking up all that glossy, savoury and umami-rich sauce. Slurp-tastic!
Udon Carbonara
½ tsp black peppercorns
3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
100g (3.5 oz) finely grated parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
200g (7 oz) guanciale, pancetta or speck , sliced into batons
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)
400g (14 oz) udon noodles
extra ground black pepper, to serve (optional)
- Use a mortar and pestle to grind the peppercorns to a coarse powder. Scoop out into a large bowl. Crack in the eggs, then add the egg yolks and parmesan. Whisk until well combined.
- Heat the guanciale in a large frying pan over high heat (you don’t need any oil initally). You want the pork to colour as well as render some fat. If there isn’t a sheen of fat on the bottom of your pan after 3-4 minutes, then add the olive oil. Turn the heat off but let the pan sit on the warm stovetop.
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Cook or soak the noodles for their recommended cooking time.
- Reserve a cup of noodle cooking /soaking water. Then drain the noodles and add them straight into the warm pan. Add the egg mixture and toss with the noodles . Keep tossing the noodles in the egg mixture until it thickens (turn the heat on low under the pan if necessary – just be careful not to scramble the eggs!). If the sauce becomes too thick, you can loosen it with some of the pasta cooking water.
- When the sauce is thick, divide among serving plates. Sprinkle over extra pepper if required and serve immediately.
