Making Ramen More Nutritious

I have a guilty secret. I am not particularly proud of it, but I love ramen. I love it. I have always loved it since my mom used to make it for me when I was sick as a kid. She always griped about how much of a pain in the ass it was to make.

No. Not really. I mean, boil water, add noodles, wait 3 minutes, turn off, add spice packet, serve.

How hard is that?!

And that's how she made it. I remember being like 10 years old or so and being indignant when I finally learned how to do it on my own.

Anyhow, I love ramen. I love the way the noodles feel in my mouth and the texture of a perfect al dente noodle. Hell, I'll even eat it dry if I'm bored and hungry enough. It's like chips!

And I love the ever so salty packets. So salty. So good. So terrible for me.

Anyhow, I have never had to eat ramen because that was all I had. And I'm fortunate for that. I'm grateful, because I imagine if I'd had to survive on ramen I'd probably hate it.

Unless it was done right.

My daughter, the Bunnyworm, loves ramen too. She says "want noodles? WANT NOODLES." She gets very insistent.

So yeah. Here's how I like to make ramen noodles.

First things first. You can put any number of frozen things in ramen, but you're going to want to let them sit out on the counter for a bit first. That's why the first step for cooking ramen is to get anything frozen out of the freezer and let it thaw while you get everything else together.

Frozen sweet peas

For frozen things, you can use just about anything. Peas are my favorite, but you could also do frozen corn, or carrots. Even frozen spinach. The nice thing about frozen vegetables is that they keep for a long time and they are CHEAP.

Here we have thinly sliced onion, chopped kale, shredded dried shitake mushroom and "green onion" which was really just part of the onion that started growing since I didn't have any green onion.

 Next you are going to want to chop up your ingredients. I used a mandolin slicer to obtain the super thin onion slices. For the dried mushrooms you *could* use a knife and risk cutting off a finger, but I prefer using kitchen shears. They work fabulously. I used a regular knife to cut up the kale, but in hindsight, the shears probably would have been easier. Same with the "green onions"

Hard boiled eggs, peeled

 We always have hard boiled eggs on standby for quick down n' dirty last minute meals. To avoid confusion with uncooked eggs, I always put a dry piece of yellow onion peel in the boiling water with the eggs. It stains the shells yellow or brown and makes it easy to know which ones are cooked and which ones will make a mess if you try to peel them.

Boil your water. I usually salt the water for pasta, but ramen doesn't really need it.

 You will need to use a large pot that will hold all of your ingredients to cook this. A small one is fine for just the noodles, but if you want a real meal, larger is better. More water does take a while to boil, so you can take advantage of the time to assemble the rest of your ingredients.

Maruchan Ramen. Probably every kid in the US has eaten this at least once.

 I prefer beef broth flavor. I absolutely loathe the chicken flavor. I'm not sure why, but it always makes me think of urine so I get the beef flavor, regardless of whether I'll be using the flavor packet or not.

Fish Sauce

 Fish sauce adds a nice subtle flavor to the ramen. You don't want to use too much though. It's pretty cheap where I live, but you might have trouble finding it in less ethnically diverse areas. You might even want to order it on amazon if you absolutely must have it. If you don't want to use it, it won't hurt anything.

Crushed red pepper is GOD in my home

 If you like spicy foods, crushed red pepper is a cheap way to add some heat to your ramen.

Ok, so you are going to add your frozen stuff, half or all of the onions (reserving some until the end gets a stronger onion flavor), the dried mushrooms, and the kale. You can also add in soy sauce at this point if you want. A nice real fermented (it will smell alcoholic) soy sauce does well and imparts a good flavor to the ramen. Shiro (white) Miso also works well in ramen. I wouldn't use both the soy sauce and the miso paste together--they're both made from soybeans and they're both salty.

I used this much fish sauce. You really don't want to do a lot. That's probably a little more than a tablespoon.

 Next, add in your ramen bricks. I put two in this batch.

 Add in the rest of your onion at this stage if you reserved any to impart a stronger onion-y flavor.

 Next add in your flavor packet if you are going to use it. I've found that bullion cubes mashed and mixed with white pepper, garlic powder, and ginger powder are at least slightly less questionable as far as weird ingredients go. If you are vegetarian than you can leave the packet and the bullion out--use miso paste and the white pepper, garlic powder, and ginger powder instead. The miso will add protein. 

The noodles should be just about done when you add in your flavor packet.

It's time to serve this sucker. I did an egg ramen this time. Eggs are also pretty cheap. You will want to add your garnishes now. For Bunnyworm I did just the green onions. For me, I did green onions and crushed red pepper.

This is Bunnyworm's bowl

My bowl.

Close up of my bowl.

Now then. There are several things you can add to ramen to make it delicious.

Meats-note, never boil the meats. It kills their flavor
Sliced cooked ham: Around easter and christmas and thanksgiving you can find hams pretty cheap. Usually about a dollar a pound. If you buy a ham, go ahead and cut it into meal size portions (a good reference is a slice the size of a single deck of cards per person). I wrap my portions in wax paper to separate them and prevent them from getting freezer burn. Then I toss all the portions in a freezer bag and freeze them. You just defrost them as you need them. I've found that they do get a little bit watery after being frozen, so I like to  slice and brown them in a pan before I add them to my ramen.
Chicken breast: Really, any left over chicken will work. If you buy a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and have left overs, feel free to slice up some chicken in the ramen. It's pretty tasty!
Beef: We don't eat a lot of beef here because it's expensive and inflames my endometriosis, but it is a nice addition to ramen. If you have left over steak (hahahahahaha. as if such a thing could be possible) then you can slice it and then put it in the ramen. If you want to cook raw steak for the ramen, try cooking it with a bit of oil in the bottom of the pot you are going to use to make the ramen. The burned brown bits on the bottom of the pot will dissolve into the water and add a bit of nice flavor. Just take the meat out and set it aside while the ramen is cooking.
Fish: I haven't actually tried this. I've been told that a can of tuna mixed into ramen is pretty good, but it sounds unpleasant to me. I nice slice of pan fried catfish might go down a treat with the ramen. Or some nice salmon slices. Who knows?
Hotdogs: Oh poverty. I was once told that taco bell hotsauce packets and hotdogs mixed into ramen noodles tastes exactly like poverty. Apparently poverty is salty and a little bit spicy.
Sausage: Pan fry slices of sausage in the bottom of the pot you will be using to make the ramen. Like the beef, it will impart a bit of flavor.
Lunch meat: Just cut it into slices and serve with the ramen. I won't judge you.
Bonito flakes: These fried dried tuna flakes will impart a mild seafood taste. This is the only exception to the "do not boil rule". Boil these from the start to impart flavor. It will add flavor but it won't add any texture.

Vegetables-note that veggies might take longer to cook than the noodles, so take their cooking time into consideration.
Frozen Corn: cheap and adds a bit of a crunch to your ramen. Add before the noodles
Frozen Peas: cheap. Adds a vegetable to your ramen. Add before the noodles
Frozen Carrots: cheap, adds a source of beta carotene. Add before the noodles
Frozen Spinach:  cheap. WILL turn the water green, so you have been warned. Add before the noodles
Kale: super nutritious and delicious!
Wakame: Wakame is dried seaweed. It's very nutritious and almost flavorless.(there is a picture below)
Broccoli: If you chop it small and boil it first it's pretty good.
Garlic: The holiest of spices. I like to cut mine into "sails"--nice big broad flat slices. Add some at the beginning and some when you add the noodles to produce a strong flavor.
Bean Sprouts: Make a great garnish and add protein.
Green Onions: Another good garnish that adds a touch of flavor. Yummy flavor.
Peppers: Choose your favorite. From spicy thai peppers to sweet bell peppers. Add the flavor that suits you.
Fresh carrots: Fresh carrots can be nice. I like to cut mine into thin strips so they cook faster.

Sauces:
Fish Sauce: Add just a little of this
Soy Sauce: the "authentic" type is better and might be referred to as shoyu
Miso paste: I like shiro miso the best, but the red miso (Aka miso) has a stronger flavor
Sriracha: adds heat.
Chile and Garlic Sauce: adds a lot of heat. use sparingly. Great for head colds!

Spices: just about anything you want to add will work well if you leave out the flavor packet
Garlic Powder: I probably eat way too much of this.
Ginger Powder: useful for imparting an "asian" taste
Curry Powder: make curry ramen.
White pepper: very different from black pepper. Imparts a very nice asiany flavor. It's also one of the main ingredients in the ramen flavor packet
Chives: adds a nice flavor and is a nice garnish too
Onion Powder: or onion flakes
Crushed Red pepper: cheap way to add heat

Exotic additions: Chile and garlic paste, sriracha sauce, bonito flakes, wakame, and shiro miso. All of these have an excellent shelf life. The miso requires refrigeration, and the sriracha and chile garlic paste require refrigeration after opening.

Remember, have fun with your ramen! It's easy to customize and add things. Try different stuff. If one thing doesn't work, try something else.

Happy Ham-egg ramen for Daddybeast