Recipe Things to Do With Cheap Ramen Noodles

Yeah, I'm talking Ramen of the Top variety. Nothing fancy.

This thread is all David Chang's fault. If you don't know who David Chang is, get out from under your food rock and go do some Googling. Seriously. This specific thread is the result of watching the first episode of this: The Mind of a Chef: Season 1 Episode Descriptions - PBS Food

After watching, I promptly went to the grocery store and bought a giant box of Oriental-flavor Top Ramen, as it turns out there is a lot the lowly cheap-o ramen noodle is capable of.

Now I have set out on an Epic Quest. I am unafraid, and I will experiment to my heart's content.

Today, I took a package of ramen, put the noodles in a Pyrex, covered them with an ample amount of water, and microwaved them for about 5 minutes, which is the perfect length of time for al dente ramen noodles in my particular microwave. I then drained the noodles, added about 2 tbsp of butter and an egg, and stirred the crap out of that. The goal was to let the hot noodles cook the egg, resulting in a sauce not unlike carbonara--in this case, a little less creamy and more eggy, but still quite good. I added half the seasoning packet along with a few grinds of black pepper. Oriental is actually a pretty good seasoning base as it is largely onion in flavor (leek, garlic, onion, and plenty o' MSG).

Next time, I hope to have parmesan cheese on hand (skipped it because I didn't have it), and I will likely add peas.

Have you done anything different with ramen noodles?

 

I've put it on my head, it makes a great hairpiece.

Seriously, I've used them to add to various meals.
Seasoning differently, sometimes a pasta to add to a salad.
I find that it tastes best with chicken...
I like to stir it in with a vegetable or two with the chicken for a nice mixed meal. The broth flavors it nicely.
The key is to put all your favorite flavors together.

I used it quite often back when my Ex was on a ramen kick...but I don't as much anymore.
hmm...maybe that's what I've have tonight.

 

I love Spam. Love, love, love Spam. But man, Spam in ramen sounds like a LOT of sodium. I'd probably eat it anyway.
--- merged: Apr 2, 2014 at 6:20 PM ---

Her instructions for making vegetarian dashi are a little different from what I'd recommend. Kombu is pretty heat sensitive, so to extract all the umami effectively, it should be soaked in cold water for a long period of time. Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art recommends an 8-hour soaking time in cold water. By contrast, dried shiitakes need boiling water to rehydrate effectively. Personally, if I know I'm going to need dashi for miso soup, I set the kombu to soak in my enamel Dutch oven in the morning. Failing that, a couple hours of soak time followed by a slow heat up to a bare simmer seems to work well if I'm short on time. In the meantime, I rehydrate the shiitakes separately and add the soaking liquid to the kombu liquid after I've removed the pieces of kombu (which can be saved, frozen, and used to make what's called second dashi). Voila, vegetarian dashi.

Additionally, that recipe could easily be made with just shiro miso for a milder flavor if you want to avoid buying two kinds of miso. On the bright side, miso never really goes bad.

The recipe you posted would also work well with udon or soba noodles.

 

I'm sad that I currently have no ramen in the house: Ramen Hacks: 30+ Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Instant Noodles | Serious Eats

 

That sounds difficult to clean off.

 

An interesting take on ramen from Roy Choi, the guy who pretty much invented the Korean taco.

Perfect Instant Ramen - Recipes - The New York Times
I'm sorely tempted by this, though I never buy American cheese; I'm also compelled to try making stovetop mac and cheese (cheddar cheese, evaporated milk, cornstarch) with ramen noodles instead.

 

Okay, while Kenji actually advises against using cheap ramen noodles, other ready-noodle alternatives apparently work well here, like thin rice noodles, and it seemed to fit here better than anywhere else I could find: The Food Lab: Make Your Own Just-Add-Hot-Water Instant Noodles (and Make Your Coworkers Jealous) | Serious Eats

There are a few recipes in there that would be reasonably easy to freeze, too.

 

Snowy's Totally Inauthentic Cheater Ramen

2 packages Top Ramen
3 cups of water
1 tbsp. shiro miso
1 tsp. crushed garlic
2 tsp. or so grated fresh ginger
1-2 tbsp soy sauce

Cook the ramen noodles according to package directions. While they are cooking, boil 3 cups of water. In the hot water, dissolve the miso, then mix in the garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Check the flavoring; adjust as necessary to your own taste. Once the noodles are cooked, combine with the broth and serve.

 

I'd eat it.