Food & Drink Instant Ramen

[Shirty]

So I'm strangely addicted to instant ramen. Big deal, wanna fight about it?

Indomie Special Fried flavour are the best in my opinion, but a bitch to get hold of here. Nissin Tonkotsu get a special mention for weirdness.

Anyone else share my dirty habit? Recommendations?

[specofdust]

It's a lot better if you buy cheap veg and make a proper ramen soup from it as opposed to just the dirty student way. Soy sauce + veg + ginger + garlic + ramen costs maybe twice as much per portion and is about 50 bazillion times better.

[Shirty]

Agreed, but this is all about the instant hit, not your fancy pants Ken Hom nonsense

I'd take a fresh stir fry over ramen soup any day for a meal, but when you're trapped in the office with access to nothing more than boiling water practicalities get in the way.

[Krikkit]

Some instant Ramen are really nice - my current (nameable) favourite is Mama Cup Shrimp Tom Yum, really delicious and quite modest in terms of fat and salt etc too (which is nice!).

I like quite a few others, but their packaging isn't graced with english for me to name them.

[Shirty]

Contains real prawns, that's going on my 'to try' list.

[Lance]

I used to call them super super noodles.

Try adding some sweet chilli for a real tastey meal. Waaay to full to think about this atm.

[specofdust]

Originally Posted by Shirty

Agreed, but this is all about the instant hit, not your fancy pants Ken Hom nonsense

I'd take a fresh stir fry over ramen soup any day for a meal, but when you're trapped in the office with access to nothing more than boiling water practicalities get in the way.

Not really ramen then though is it? Just noodles. Bit like calling all pasta "Carbonara". Also, you pretty much can make a decent ramen with boiling water, a few prechopped ingredients, and a box with your dried noodles and ingredients in. All you need is some prechopped ginger, garlic, and spring onions, along with a small sachet or container of soy sauce, and you've got something worth eating!


Has anyone actually found the noodle brand to make a difference, out of interest? I chuck away the sachet of salt and msg normally, so obviously that's out the question for my purposes, but I can't say I've ever found much difference between Morrisons 15 pence noodles and the expensive £2 imported instant noodles you get in my local Chinese store.

[Mankz]

Koka Chicken.

This is all.

[RedFlames]

Originally Posted by specofdust

All you need is some prechopped ginger, garlic, and spring onions, along with a small sachet or container of soy sauce

That's about as close to resembling ramen as a pot noodle is...


I've eaten enough ramen over the years that if you were what you ate I'd be a bowl of ramen...

As for which packet/instant ramen I'd recommend I'll give it some thought as the quality [and price] can vary wildly, nissin and nong shim are two brands that immedaitely come to mind...

Has anyone actually found the noodle brand to make a difference, out of interest? I chuck away the sachet of salt and msg normally, so obviously that's out the question for my purposes, but I can't say I've ever found much difference between Morrisons 15 pence noodles and the expensive £2 imported instant noodles you get in my local Chinese store.

The cheap end of the scale tend to turn to a mushy mess very quickly ['super noodles' are the worst for this] but generally it's a matter of personal preference... some you can cook in the broth, others are better cooked separately then add to the broth later

[specofdust]

Originally Posted by RedFlames

That's about as close to resembling ramen as a pot noodle is...

No. It's not ramen, I agree, but it's a step up from dried noodles + msg powder + boiling water.

[RedFlames]

Originally Posted by specofdust

No. It's not ramen, I agree, but it's a step up from dried noodles + msg powder + boiling water.

As I said, it depends on the instant noodles... quite a few have actual ingredients in them... and most tend not to have MSG in now [i stress *now*, wasn't/isn't always the case]...

[specofdust]

Originally Posted by RedFlames

As I said, it depends on the instant noodles... quite a few have actual ingredients in them... and most tend not to have MSG in now [i stress *now*, wasn't/isn't always the case]...

Actual dried ingredients != fresh tasty ingredients. Slash up some fresh ginger, garlic, and spring onion and you've already got some brilliant flavours. Chuck some soy sauce in the noodle broth along with those veg and you have yourself a passable meal, considerably better than any of the noodle packs I've tried, and I've gone for a good few different ones out of my local Chinese shop.

[steveo_mcg]

Value 15p noodles has been my camping food of choice for a while, though by the time I get round to food my buddy and I generally just toss a few packets in a pot with some chorizo and depending on exactly how hungry we are, some of the msg flavour. After a days riding the msg isn't really required hunger demands that food be consumed, flavour be dammed.

One of the best "meals" I ever had was a pot of noodles boiled only just long enough to soften the noodles, resultant soup consumed by red led head torch before passing out in a bivvy bag in the middle of the Caringorms a long way from any thing.

[RedFlames]

Originally Posted by specofdust

Actual dried ingredients != fresh tasty ingredients. Slash up some fresh ginger, garlic, and spring onion and you've already got some brilliant flavours. Chuck some soy sauce in the noodle broth along with those veg and you have yourself a passable meal, considerably better than any of the noodle packs I've tried, and I've gone for a good few different ones out of my local Chinese shop.

Dried ingredients > MSG and Artificial Flavourings, which is what I was getting at with 'actual ingredients'

and with a lot of the packet noodles of far-eastern origin, you're *supposed to* add your own meat and veg to them, though can eat it on its own should you choose to.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Originally Posted by specofdust

No. It's not ramen, I agree, but it's a step up from dried noodles + msg powder + boiling water.

Whats wrong with MSG powder? In the far east MSG is looked at in the same way as we use stock cubes. It's a shortcut to get an umami taste with out going through the lengthy process of making a proper dashi stock from kombu kelp or bonnito flakes. Spec I'm quite surprised with your area of study at your hostility to something that has been given a clean bill of health by every public health body that has ever looked at the scientific studies on its effects.

If you eat Marmite or grate some parmesan cheese onto your pasts your taking in more MSG then you will find in some instant noodles.

[specofdust]

Originally Posted by RedFlames

Dried ingredients > MSG and Artificial Flavourings, which is what I was getting at with 'actual ingredients'

and with a lot of the packet noodles of far-eastern origin, you're *supposed to* add your own meat and veg to them, though can eat it on its own should you choose to.

Oh I know, I'm just pointing out that you can easily add a few ingredients to dried noodles and make them way way better than what you'd get natively out of the packet.

Originally Posted by Da_Rude_Baboon

Whats wrong with MSG powder?

Absolutely nothing, but it can't replace vegetables. MSG is pretty awesome in fact, but salt can't replace carrots, and MSG can't replace celery, if you feel me.

Not hostile at all to it, I just think that it's undeniable that those little msg/salt packs you get in a packet of noodles are never going to give you the same level of meal when added to noodles as a whole host of vegetables are.

No indeed, I'm very much on the pro-side of any health argument about MSG. Most people who complain about it are idiots.

[Tangster]

Instant Ramen + Chopped Frankfurter sausages + baby pak choi + chopped spring onion +soy sauce = Coursework food.

The beauty of it is you can add anything to ramen (instant or not) and it still tastes good. I've had it with fish, beef, pork, lamb and just veg.

Plain ramen...nope.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Originally Posted by specofdust

Absolutely nothing, but it can't replace vegetables. MSG is pretty awesome in fact, but salt can't replace carrots, and MSG can't replace celery, if you feel me.

Read and understood.

[Krikkit]

spec it sounds like your local supermarket carries a lot of crap - I haven't had a veg-free ramen pack from one in years. Probably the last time I tried the UK supermarket ones in fact.

We should probably get some snaps of our favourite ones now. Tested today: Mama Cup Chicken flavour - good, but not as mindbogglingly delicious as the Tom Yum one, but very respectable.

[Tangster]

Originally Posted by Krikkit

spec it sounds like your local supermarket carries a lot of crap - I haven't had a veg-free ramen pack from one in years. Probably the last time I tried the UK supermarket ones in fact.

We should probably get some snaps of our favourite ones now. Tested today: Mama Cup Chicken flavour - good, but not as mindbogglingly delicious as the Tom Yum one, but very respectable.

You don't get ramen that nice in most UK supermarkets. You need to venture to Chinatown or Korean stores to get them here.