What do I do with ramen noodles?

Last Chinese New Year, we were privileged to receive a festive gift hamper.....and among the items I found inside the hamper was a packet of dried ramen noodles.

Now what am I going to do with these ramen noodles?  It's not that I know how to make a tonkotsu (or pork bone) ramen broth.....nor would I even if I did.  I'm not willing to sacrifice my time over hours and hours of boiling the pork bones (anything from 10 - 16 hours! >.<) to get that sought-after rich, creamy, opaque, white broth that's the epitome of a good ramen broth.

I've eaten my fair share of ramen noodles though not particularly a big fan of it.  Ramen is best eaten at specialty ramen shops.  It's not something I would ever make at home.  For those who do, it's really a labour of love as it needs so much time and effort.  Since ramen noodles is a bit like our local Hakka noodles in looks, texture and taste, I thought I'd use up the noodles and cook something simple with it...hopefully with some Japanese-Chinese influences.

This packet of dried ramen noodles isn't any ordinary ramen noodles I gather.....as it says sun-dried sea birdnest handmade ramen on the box.  The pack came with 4 portions of noodles when opened.

No instructions were found in the packaging to advise how long I need to cook these noodles, so I'll just have to wing it! ;)  I cooked two portions of noodle (since one looked like it was so little, after all the whole pack was only 150g).  Testing along the way, the noodles were al dente after 4 minutes.

Once done, just lift them up into a bowl.  The noodles were pretty easy to lift up with a chopstick actually. They don't fall off as the noodles are in nice, long (not broken up) strands.  Before cooking the noodles, I had to prep some ingredients for my noodles.  It was a spur of the moment thing, so I just used what I had available.

I had some leftover fresh shiitake mushrooms (that I cooked the other day), a piece of fried beancurd (from my earlier chee cheong fun breakfast) and spring onions in the fridge.  Since this was going to be a meatless bowl of ramen (no chasu...nor know where to begin to make one), I thought shiitake mushrooms would make a good substitute for its earthy, meaty texture.

A proper bowl of ramen always come with a ramen egg (ajitama), a marinated soft-boiled (or should I say medium-boiled) egg with a custardy yolk that's barely set.  But why would I even bother to make a soy marinated egg for just one bowl of noodles.  So, I replaced it with a fried omelette instead (but sliced it into thin shreds for better presentation...lol).

It so happened that I had a chicken and prawn broth I made earlier (and froze), so I used that for my soup base.  I reheated the broth and boiled the leftover shiitake mushrooms in it to soften them.  Then, it was just a matter of assembling all the ingredients (nicely)...before pouring in the hot broth! ;)

Hey, the final product does look like it had a bit Japanese influence (no?) due to the shiitake mushrooms (fresh ones, not the dried Chinese kind) and spring onions which I chopped ever so finely to mimic those you'd find in abundance in a bowl of ramen (too bad I didn't have any dried Japanese seaweed).

To finish the balance two portions of the ramen noodles, I thought I'd cook it Chinese-style taking inspiration from a bowl of Hakka-style noodles.  For this, I just sauteed some minced pork that has been rubbed in a little cornflour and seasoned with salt, chicken powder, white pepper and a very light drizzle of soy sauce (just a little so that the noodles will stay white-coloured).

Once cooked, toss them with the al dente ramen noodles.  As traditional Hakka noodle does not have robust dark sauces for flavour, the minced pork would need more seasoning so that the noodles do not end up tasting bland.

Of course, the traditional Hakka noodle also gets its flavour from being tossed with pork lard oil and topped with cubes of crispy pork lard but since I don't normally have that at home, I can only toss them in fried minced garlic and garlic oil together with lots of chopped spring onions.   Finally, finish it off with more crispy garlic bits...and more chopped spring onions! ;P

Since I still had some frozen chicken stock in the fridge, I had the noodles with a side serving of soup filled with store-bought, restaurant-quality fried fishballs.

This actually turned out better than I expected.  It was a pleasantly delicious meal if I have to say so myself. It may not be as good as those authentic Hakka taipu noodle shops because of the lack of pork lard but certainly a good enough homecooked version if you enjoy subtle-tasting noodles.

As for the ramen noodles being sun-dried sea birdnest handmade ramen...well, it didn't taste any different from any plain ramen.  I just have to imagine I'm eating birdnest ramen...lol.

I didn't know what I would do when I saw the ramen noodles in the hamper and thought it might go to waste. In the end, it turned out to be the most tasty thing from the hamper.  I like the texture of these ramen noodles.

After this positive experience and knowing what I can do with them now to produce a quick, simple and nourishing meal, it has encouraged me to look for (an appropriate brand of) dried ramen noodles the next time I'm in a supermarket. ^_~