Update Your Instant Noodles
Take a few extra minutes to take your instant noodles from good to amazing.
Radish Ramen
Serves 1
Instant noodles make for a quick and delicious meal anytime. When we have instant noodles, I like to add a few simple ingredients to help make it more filling. These ingredients also help to change the flavor profile of your noodles and make them more interesting.
This recipe is a slight modification of one I saw made by Korean Chef Baek Jong Won.
“Recipe Tips:
1. The measurements in these recipes are for one bowl of noodles. To make larger batches, increase the ingredients proportionally.
2. Use your favorite brand of instant noodles. The best options will be the instant noodles in the individual bags rather than the noodles in a cup.”
Ingredients
1 package ramen
500 ml (2.5 c) water
200g (1 heaped c) Korean radish, julienne
45g (.25 c) onion, sliced with the grain
30g (1/3 c) daepa or scallions, sliced
4g (.75 t) ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chungyang or serrano chili, sliced - optional
2 t fish sauce
1.5 t sesame oil
Recipe Know-how
1. Over medium heat, heat a medium pot with the sesame oil.
Add the radish and onion. Saute 2-3 minutes or until the radish just begins to wilt.
Add ginger, garlic and chili. Saute 45 seconds.
Add the flakes and seasoning bags from the ramen package.
Add the water and fish sauce. Increase heat to high and bring to boil.
Add scallions and noodles
Cook 4 minutes.
Using chopsticks or tongs, gently shake the noodles until they begin to separate. Continue gently shaking and lifting the noodles from the broth occasionally while cooking.
Adjust noodle cooking time based on your preferred noodle texture. Longer for softer noodles and shorter for firmer noodles.
2. Serve.
Milk Ramen
Serves 1
This particular recipe is based on one I have seen floating around the internet. The resulting broth is slightly thick due to the milk and almost like having a light cream soup.
“Recipe Tips:
1: You can add any milk you have on hand. The higher the fat content of the milk you use the thicker the resulting broth. For an alternative milk option, soy would be ideal.
2: I like this style of ramen to have a lot of broth. If you’d like a thicker resulting sauce, do not add the water.
3. This ramen is particularly delicious when made with coconut milk. To do so add 150 ml (.75 c) coconut milk and 300 ml (1.5 c) water in the place of the water and milk. This is best served brothy rather than thick.”
Ingredients
1 package spicy ramen
350 ml (1.75 c) milk
100 ml (.5 c) water
75g (2) baby bok choy, trimmed and leaves separated
60g (.5 c) carrot, julienne
50g (.25 c) onion, sliced with the grain
50-65g (1) smoked sausage link or smoked duck, sliced - optional
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 t soy sauce
1.5 t sesame oil
.5 t gochagaru - optional
Recipe Know-how
1. Over medium heat, heat a medium pot with the sesame oil.
Add the sausage, carrot and onion. Saute 3-4 minutes or until the carrot just begins to wilt and the sausage browns slightly.
Add garlic and saute 45 seconds longer.
Add the gochagaru, flakes and seasoning bags from the ramen package.
Add the milk and water. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil.
Add noodles. Cook 2 minutes.
Using chopsticks or tongs, gently shake the noodles until they begin to separate. Continue gently shaking and lifting the noodles from the broth occasionally while cooking.
Add bok choy. Cook 2 minutes longer.
The resulting bok choy will be tender crisp. If you desire softer bok choy, add to broth 1 minute earlier.
Adjust noodle cooking time based on your preferred noodle texture. Longer for softer noodles and shorter for firmer noodles.
2. Serve.
