Egg and eggplant udon

This recipe also has lots of variations, but the key ingredients are noodles, eggs, soy sauce, ginger, and scallions. Hmm...this is starting to sound familiar. 

To make the serving shown here (enough for three, though maybe not three ravenously hungry), you'll need:

- 2 East Asian type eggplants (the long thin kind)

- 2 eggs

- 2 cloves of garlic, diced

- 1 thumb of ginger, diced

- scallions, chopped

- 2 or 3 servings of dry udon

- soy sauce and chili flakes to taste

- (optional) sugar to taste

1. Fry the eggplant and ginger on medium heat until the eggplant starts to get crispy on the outside. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water for the noodles.

2. When the water starts to boil, add the noodles to the water, and add the garlic to the pan (the one with the eggplant and ginger).

3. When the noodles are done (this should take about 3 minutes), move them from the pot to the pan, and add soy sauce. Then fill the pan with hot water (you can use the water from cooking the noodles). Stir in case the noodles have stuck to the pan in the meantime.

4. The water should quickly start to boil, since it was boiling in the pot before. Taste to make sure there's enough salt, and if not, add more soy sauce. Now beat the eggs and add them, stirring slowly so they spread out into long strands.

5. Turn off the heat, and add the scallions. Stir for 20 or 30 seconds, and serve.

Actually, I usually use tomatoes instead of eggplant, and then it's sort of like a soup version of tomato fried eggs (番茄炒蛋). You can use other noodles too, of course, like ramen and soba.