Ramen United!: Good add-ons to Ramen

[ExtravagantEvil]

Hey Playground,
I might have to live off of Ramen for a week or so in the future, so I want to know what are some good things to Toss in, and your choice favorites. Nothing as too weird here.
As a note, all I have is Roast Beef Manchu Ramen in my possession.

Ramen Eaters Unite!

[dgnslyr]

Curry Ramen is absolutely delicious and I love to eat it in its curried goodness.

Chashu pork is also good.

[Coidzor]

Crunchy peanut butter and a touch of chili powder or hot sauce works wonders.

[Yanagi]

Fresh herbs: cilantro, thai basil, dill
Scallions
Sriracha (chile-garlic sauce)
Hoisin sauce
Enoki mushrooms
Miso paste
Bean Paste
Bean Sprouts
Eggs--boiled beforehand and sliced or cooked in the ramen broth while whisked

[Arminius]

I like to add ground cayenne pepper to mine.

[Tragic_Comedian]

Chicken nuggets.

[SiuiS]

I once chopped up a bunch of onion, celery, and carrots and divvied them up into about five packets I made out of Saran wrap.

Toss the ingredients into the water before you put it over the stovetop, and use less water (or more crunchy bits, either or). Garlic salt, pepper, and it came out enough like a stew (a depressingly meatless stew, but still) to fill and satisfy, and also gave me stuff I wouldn't have otherwise.

If you shave the carrot thin enough / small enough, a single carrot gives a lot of additional doses. Onions and celery are hard to ration though, because you expect them to semidissolve into the broth. Haven't tried anything else, but broccoli sounds like it would work, as well as real garlic.

I'd also suggest drinking the broth, and using ALL of it. It's a lot of sodium, but the lover you can go between ramen joshed the better, and fluid is filling. Especially brothy, celery onion fluid.

[Ravens_cry]

Chicken nuggets.

If you can afford chicken nuggets, you are probably not living off $0.33-$0.25 a packet ramen, at least the way they price chicken nuggets in my neck of the woods.
Fresh garlic chopped up is a nice addition as is black pepper, especially with beef ramen. Just peanut peanut butter is nice, as is julian cut celery, green beans and bell peppers. Hells, any veggies are nice, including onions.
Hot sauce is always nice, though doesn't add much food value.
Cooking up some rice, white or brown, and adding it the the broth can add some good fullness.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Generally, i just cook up the soup, add some fresh chives from the garden, some chopped deli-meats, an egg or two broken into the soup near the end, maybe a splash or two of sesame oil.

[Tebryn]

If you can afford chicken nuggets, you are probably not living off $0.33-$0.25 a packet ramen, at least the way they price chicken nuggets in my neck of the woods.

If you're buying fresh vegetables and other things to throw in your ramen then you can -probably- afford a dollar 4 piece nugget. Just saying.

[Coidzor]

Bulk frozen chicken nuggets and fish sticks are acquirable in certain american supermarkets for prices comparable to a bulk case of ramen.

Of course, IIRC, you get a better deal off of just buying the 1 dollar or less 1 pound boxes of macaroni/spaghetti pasta and getting some cheap spices/boullion/soy sauce in terms of price.

Cheap breakfast sausage or ground offal can be acquired for around 1.60-2.00 a pound and a pound of that can be used to stretch out noodles a modest amount.

Though, really, dry beans and rice are the cheapest way to get a complete protein still.

And can be doctored up in most of the same way as ramen while being marginally better.

Hmm, that reminds me, I need to find a use for these fish sticks...

[Mystic Muse]

Some veggies, maybe a little chicken (Chicken ramen is my favorite) and I almost always put in an egg and a little garlic.

[The_Admiral]

Add some cheese to the curry ramen and for the chicken flavored noodles, crack an egg in the bowl you are eating from and pour the hot noodles onto the egg then mix it all up. Slimy and delicious.

[dgnslyr]

Hmm, that reminds me, I need to find a use for these fish sticks...

Do what I do. Rice + meat + ketchup = complete, satisfying meal. Ketchup and rice is actually really good. The sour taste is a little like tonkatsu sauce, except tomato flavored instead of soy sauce flavored.

[Knaight]

Cabbage is usually on the cheaper end for vegetables (though not nearly as cheap as potatoes), and it works well. Carrots and onions are also good, if you can afford them, and if you are eating ramen and have money to throw around, you can spring for leeks (and meat). Then there are dry goods, a touch of chilli powder goes a long way, as does a touch of garlic powder - though you might be able to afford actual garlic, which can be used as if it were a vegetable.

[Eadin]

I usually add sweet chili sauce and leftover pieces of meat to my ramen.
Leftover bits of onion too.

[Kneenibble]

I like those dried shiitake mushrooms chopped up quite thinly after soaking. Once they're cooked they have the consistency of earlobes.

And then you use the soaking water as your cooking fluid -- it lends a tasty flavour.

Though, really, dry beans and rice are the cheapest way to get a complete protein still.

Please don't propagate this myth, biscuit! For starters, rice (presuming you mean white) has basically no protein; and secondly, it's not necessary to consume the complete amino acid profile in a single meal so long as you get a variety of vegetable protein sources, generally.

[Karoht]

Egg and Green Onion.

Slice up Green Onion (using a pair of scissors works well) and sprinkle into your boiling water right as you add the stock. Or add to bowl at the same time you pour hot water in from your kettle.

Take a raw egg. Crack it open, and dump it right into the bowl, on top of your noodles + broth. Do this quickly, before the water goes from piping hot to not so hot.
Put a small dish or plate over the bowl to cover. Essentially, the egg is going to cook via steam/hot water. You're essentially poaching the egg on top of your noodles.
Salt and pepper, pinch of ginger powder. Delicious.

Cabbage, lettuce, and fish sauce (allergy warning) are all good and cheap and decently healthy. Rice wine vinegar really gives it some zing if you can't consume the fish sauce.

[The Succubus]

I like those dried shiitake mushrooms chopped up quite thinly after soaking. Once they're cooked they have the consistency of earlobes.

And then you use the soaking water as your cooking fluid -- it lends a tasty flavour.

Slightly off-topic, but this is a fantastic way to prepare porcini mushrooms as well. The mushroom liquor makes a great addition to any number of sauces.

[Karoht]

Slightly off-topic, but this is a fantastic way to prepare porcini mushrooms as well. The mushroom liquor makes a great addition to any number of sauces.

mmmmmm.
Oh baby, pass the butter.


Back on topic, Ramen. Yeah.

One trick I do is I use as little water as possible. I let the whole thing boil down and reduce to pretty much nothing. Then I throw the noodles + reduced stock into a hot frying pan. The reduced stock turns into a sauce with the starch of the ramen. Sprinkle in spices, keep it moving, keep it from sticking, dump it onto a pre-warmed plate with some steamed veg. YUM.


PS-A vegetable steamer is an awesome purchase, usually around 20 bucks, makes rice, turns frozen stir fry veg packs into edible veg.

[TheThan]

how about a casserole?

[Ravens_cry]

If you're buying fresh vegetables and other things to throw in your ramen then you can -probably- afford a dollar 4 piece nugget. Just saying.

A dollars worth of broccoli can be added to about two-four servings of raman. A dollars worth of onion even more, and a dollars worth of fresh garlic will serve you well for quite a while at about 35c a bulb, adding a clove or two at a time.

[Karoht]

A dollars worth of broccoli can be added to about two-four servings of raman. A dollars worth of onion even more, and a dollars worth of fresh garlic will serve you well for quite a while at about 35c a bulb, adding a clove or two at a time.

A head of broccoli and a bulb of garlic get me about 4 large full bowls of soup. Tasty too, if you like broccoli.

[Kneenibble]

Slightly off-topic, but this is a fantastic way to prepare porcini mushrooms as well. The mushroom liquor makes a great addition to any number of sauces.

I've been turning the phrase "mushroom liquor" over and over in my mind since you wrote it. Its poetic value gives me a slick pleasure.

[Ravens_cry]

A head of broccoli and a bulb of garlic get me about 4 large full bowls of soup. Tasty too, if you like broccoli.

And garlic.
That does sound tasty.
And pretty healthy for you if you drink lots of water, most of us can simply flush out the extra sodium from the Ramen if we are well hydrated.

[Karoht]

I've been turning the phrase "mushroom liquor" over and over in my mind since you wrote it. Its poetic value gives me a slick pleasure.

Any time you boil or reconstitute some kind of vegetable, some of its essence will end up in the water. Boil carrots, you get slightly copper colored water. Boil broccoli and you get green water.
I try to keep this stuff and make vegetable stock. Potato water is very very good for making bread with.

And yes. Mushroom liquor from such a process. It's got so many excellent uses, even for something simple like ramen. And things far more complex.


Another good trick for ramen.

Fry up a chicken breast or or a pork chop or some beef. Remove meat from pan. Add water or chicken stock (or indeed, ramen broth) to the pan, stir it around. This is called 'deglazing' and you basically make a sauce from the remains of the chicken as well as whatever you add to the pan.
Loads of options for stuff you can add to the pan, veggie stock, chicken stock, ramen water, pasta water, white/red wine.

Or, yes, mushroom liquor.

[Kneenibble]

I know very well what it is, cupcake. I mean I am savouring the way the words feel together.

[The Succubus]

I know very well what it is, cupcake. I mean I am savouring the way the words feel together.

I tend to savour the way the words taste together.

[Karoht]

I tend to taste the savour words way together. Wait, what are we talking about? Right, ramen.


Ramen + Salad greens. Tricky to find a good dressing for. Spinach is cheap, lettuce is cheap, and as someone pointed out, a head of cabbage is very cheap. Ramen + Cabbage works out a lot like a Cole Slaw.

Spicy Mayo + Cabbage (Suey Choy?) + Ramen = Japanese Cole Slaw?

On that note, try frying your ramen noodles with some Zesty Italian Dressing. It's different. I'd even go so far as to call it interesting.

I've heard tell that Ramen fried in beer isn't as disgusting as one would first think. It may actually more disgusting than it sounds, but I haven't the heart to waste good beer on such an experiment. Or bad beer.

[Coidzor]

That reminds me, Hand To Mouth, a spin-off of SMBC Theater did a Ramen episode.