1 lb (more or less) beef. (I like to use round steak, but whatever you like is fine.)
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can bean sprouts
1 can mushrooms
1 can bamboo shoots
1 can baby corn
1 medium onion
minced garlic
ginger powder
Worcestershire sauce
House of Tsang Szechuan Sauce
White wine (or sake)
Vinegar
Honey
Soy sauce
1-2 bunches of soba, or about 1/4-1/3 box of whole-grain spaghetti
2-4 medium carrots
1/2 of a medium head of cabbage
about 1 cup of peanuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, or similar
Slice the beef thin, in strips about 1/8" thick and maybe 1.5 inches long. Chop about 1/3 of the onion and place with beef in a non-metal bowl. Add about 2 Tbsp of wine, 2 Tbsp of soy, a Tbsp of vinegar, dashes of salt and pepper, a Tbst of the Szechuan sauce, and about a Tsp of honey. Add can of mushrooms with the liquid. Dust liberally with ginger powder, stir well, allow to marinate for 20-30 minutes while you get everything else ready.
Boil the soba (or spaghetti) for 3-5 minutes, drain, and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
Shred or julienne the carrots and set aside. Chop the cabbage into coleslaw-like shreds and set aside.
Drain and rinse the baby corn. Cut into 1" segments and set aside. Drain the other canned vegetables and set aside.
Mix 5 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp Szechuan sauce, and 1 Tbsp of soy sauce in small bowl and set aside.
Slice the remaining onion in thin slices. Drain as much liquid from the beef as possible but try to retain all the other stuff.
Heat wok/pan/griddle/whatever--turn the heat on "high". This is the only adjustment you need to make to the stove until you are done. I use a carbon steel wok without any kind of coating inside; it's just plain old oil-seasoned steel and it can take whatever heat I throw at it. If you use a wimpy teflon-coated pan, you should be mindful of the coating's resistance to heat. I would recommend not using any kind of teflon-coated cookware for making any kind of oriental dish because stir-frying means a hot pan, and putting an empty teflon pan on a burner set on "high" is bad for the coating.
Anyway, oil the pan with peanut oil or other high-temp vegetable oil. (Not olive oil.) Add the onion and about 2 Tbsp minced garlic (or to taste), and stir-fry until the onion just starts to carmelize. (If your pan is properly hot, it will take about as much time as it would take you to read this paragraph twice.)
Add the beef mixture; stir-fry until browned.
Add--in this order--cabbage, carrot, canned vegetables, and sprinkle about 5 Tbsp of wine over it all; do not stir, cover and allow to steam for 3-5 minutes. Stir well, add noodles, continue to stir for 1-2 minutes. Stir the sauce mixture, then pour over the top of the contents of the pan, and stir well.
Shut off heat, add peanuts, stir stir stir. Serve.
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This will make a lot of yakisoba. This recipie, as stated here, will feed 3-5 people and you may have leftovers. Use a big pan when you make it, too; this recipie fills my wok almost all the way.
No one has ever had a bad word to say about it, either.
If you want less heat (spice), you can reduce or eliminate the Szechuan sauce, and just make up the difference with Worcestershire.
This yakisoba recipie is meatier than true Japanese yakisoba, and it's less bland. The only ingredients which are critical are the meat, the cabbage, and the noodles; everything else is negotiable. It's a highly flexible recipie which is hard to ruin, too.
Enjoy.