Usually fusion means East meets West, but this is an East meets East fusion. Whatever, the whole "fusion" thing is ridiculous anyways. All food is fusion as all food is some mix of cultures somewhere in history. Even the tomatoes we associate with "very Italian" tomato sauce came from South America. There is no such thing as a "pure" culture as there is no such thing as a "pure" race....uh...right? Right?

Well of course, you might say, if we want to take that approach, then we can't even talk about different kinds of food in a meaningful way. Absolutely right. But even then, things like the Hong Kong style café were "fusion" before fusion was a thing -- just without the glamour and the marketing.

Sometimes I do like the "pure" forms of things and sometimes I like to embrace some mixing and matching. Honestly, who cares as long as it tastes good. And this dish is pretty much always a hit with the strong flavours.

Ingredients

• 1 pkg dry soba noodles - For non-connoisseurs, you could say there are 3 kinds of soba noodles -- white, green, and brown. The brown ones are best for this dish as they are made from whole buckwheat and have a more robust texture and flavour.
• 0.5 onion
• 0.5 zucchini -- So zucchini is not quite Chinese, but that's what I had in the fridge. You can really use any vegetables you want. Anyways, it makes it more fusion. Yeah, we'll go with that.
• 0.5 carrot
• 0.5 bell pepper
• 1 small handful of fermented black beans
• 1 handful chopped cilantro
• 2 slices of ginger, minced
• oyster sauce
• soy sauce
• green onions, chopped
• katsuobushi
• nori
• cooking oil

Method

• Give the fermented black beans a rinse and let them soak for about 10 minutes.
• Cut the vegetables into medium size strips.

• Boil the soba noodles until they are slightly under done. Eat one and if there is a smidge of uncooked noodle in the middle, they're ready. They'll cook more in the wok later.
• Drain the soba noodles.

• Heat some cooking oil in a wok.
• When it starts to smoke, first add the ginger and onions until the onions are soft.
• Then add each of the vegetables one at a time (as in one type, not one stick of carrot at a time -- but you knew that, right? right?), starting with the vegetable that has the longest cooking time.
• Splash some soy sauce in.

• When the vegetables are nice and cooked, add the soba noodles. Stir fry them until the noodles get a little dry and fragrant. If they start to stick, just add more oil. Don't be timid, this is a dish that is meant to be oily.
• Drain the black beans and add them, along with a dollop (is it just mayonnaise that "dollops"? -- whatever, fusion terminology) of oyster sauce. Toss until everything is nicely coated.

• Turn off the heat and add the cilantro. Give another toss until the cilantro is evenly distributed.
• Plate up, and top with the katsuobushi, nori and green onions.

Oil gets a bad reputation nowadays, but if you're going to do this dish, you might as well do it right. It's key to this dish and is very satisfying. Pair it with this Chinese Vegetable Soup to wash down the oil.