Lazy Ramen

This article was submitted to be my my friend Wolfie, who has some pretty good kitchen savvy. Note to self: ask for his pear soup recipe. Enjoy, everyone!

For most college students, instant noodles or ‘ramen’ is one of the staples of eating. It’s fast, filling, and takes almost no effort to make. However, it’s also not too good for your health for the long term so here are a couple simple steps you can take to make it better with little extra effort:

1. Cook them – To be honest, I still don’t understand why some people insist on eating it raw. It’s sure as hell not good for you, especially since one of the ways that those blocks of noodles are preserved involves giving them a light coating of wax. You can feel it once you know what you’re looking for.
2. Drain the water – Again, due to the wax. If you plan on having the noodles within some kind of soup or broth, drain out the water (especially if it looks white before you’ve added anything) and replace it with fresh water. Then just let it boil and add whatever kind of flavouring you like.
3. Add other ingredients – Yes, this does involve some effort but it’s about the same amount taken to make something like a box of macaroni and cheese (the original kind, not those idiot-proof instant versions). It’s easy to add anything to make the noodles more balanced and probably tastier. Here are a few suggestions:
• Leftovers – To those few that actually cook something substantial occasionally, just toss in whatever looks like it’ll mix without creating something vomit-inducing. No extra effort needed and it clears fridge space.
• Chopped vegetables – Any of the following work especially well with ramen: lettuce, carrots, bok choy, green beans, peas, generally anything green, peppers, sometimes corn niblets, etc. For the really lazy, just buy a frozen bag of mixed chopped veggies. It’s healthy for you and goes with practically anything.
• Meat – I’m sure most students will agree with me here. Meat is generally pretty good for you and filling as well. Just try not to overdo it. Most meat can be combined with ramen, though I recommend avoiding ground meat (unless it’s leftovers). It’s preferable to use precooked/chopped meat, that way you don’t overcook the noodles while trying to cook the meat. Fish also works too. Just choose according to personal preference. (Sidenote from Glo: Chicken rib meat works well as a toss-in.)
  
• Seasoning – A bit of advice. If using the seasoning packet that comes with the noodles, do not use the whole thing. (I heartily agree.) Generally, one packet is good enough to flavour 2 blocks of noodles, especially if anything above is added. Also, I’m not a chemistry major, but I recommend not eating too much of it as I haven’t the slightest clue what the hell they put into it. If you really want some meat flavouring, add meat instead of powder when possible. Soy sauce and sesame oil are generally good ideas in moderation, and for those interesting in trying something different curry and satay powders can be found in most grocery stores nowadays. Feel free to experiment.

Hopefully, some of this advice is useful. Once you get the hang of this, perhaps you may want to try cooking something a bit more complicated. But this should help keep you going till you’re out of college.