Yes, I Am 28 and I Still Eat Ramen

(Ed. Note:  Please also welcome this guest post from Tony, filling in for Alana)

Other possible titles: "Ramen Is an Ingredient, Not a Right."  Or further, "Ramen in Sheep's Clothing."

When I and many of my good friends fell off the employment wagon, we had to resort to cooking at home to save money. Thanks to Madtasty, I nearly ended my unemployment prematurely with a number of cooking fiascos that left me with mild food poisoning and a badly burned copy of Where's Mom, Now That I Need Her? It wasn't long before I reverted back to my old college habits of 40 ozs and ramen noodles. Safe and sound. I'd like to share one of my more blog-friendly triumphs, covering for Lady A, best cook ever, on a week when she is rather busy.

So, how does a self-respecting yuppie dress up ramen to take home to mom and dad? Just follow along. And, if your parents are separated, you can tailor this recipe to their individual tastes at many steps along the way.

You will need, clockwise from our hero in the bottom left: Ramen, Si Racha, frozen broccoli, boiling (or at least very hot) water (represented here by the pot), a bowl to eat out of, frozen shrimp, fresh cilantro, furikaki (advanced) and chopsticks (not pictured - you may substitute a fork).

Step 1:

Boil some water, note appropriate signage in background

Step 2:

While the water is boiling, unfreeze the shrimps and broccoli (we use frozen shrimp and broccoli because this is Ramen, people! and also its already cooked you just hafta heat it up! this takes about 4 x 1 minute intervals in my wimpy microwave. Plan accordingly.

Step 3:

Is not a step, it is a picture I have included about furikake. What the hell is furikake and why should I have it in my kitchen?

Furikake is a Japanese condiment intended to top rice, but I suppose it is an ingredient and can be used for whatever. It is made of seaweed and sesame and soy (for saltiness) and usually has fish or shrimp in it. I get the kind without fish cause it reminds me of fish food. But you can make that call yourself. Find this at Super 88 or moral equivalent. Its delicious and is not necessary, but it adds a little authenticity to have sesame and seaweed floating in your soup.

Step 4:

When the shrimp and broccoli are defrosted and are on their way to hot, just drop the Ramen on top and add flavor packet, Si Racha, cilantro and furikake to taste. I use about 2/3 the flavor packet, a good dollop of Si Racha, 10-15 cilantro leaves and a teaspoon of furikake.  You can also add lettuce at this step, but I think real asians use bok choy.

Step 5:

Just add water.

Step 6:

Stir to presentability

Step 7:

Wolf down standing in the kitchen at or near the breakfast bar and get to your favorite local watering hole.

Godspeed and good luck.

kitchen katastrophe: recession-proof salad

my cousin's wife made this recipe for our group christmas a few weeks ago. i instantly fell in love with it and got the recipe from her. it turns out, all the ingredients are really cheap or things you would have around the home. i don't know the name of it, so i have called it the recession-proof salad.

Recession-Proof Salad
Ingredients

1. one bag of coleslaw (not with the mayo, just the coleslaw-cut lettuce)
   
2. almonds
3. ramen noodles (asian style)
4. onions
5. 1/2 c. oil
6. 1 tsp. vinegar
7. 3 tbsp. sugar
8. 1 tsp. soy sauce

Directions

• Mix first four ingredients in bowl.
• Whisk last four ingredients together.
• Pour liquid mixture over salad to coat.
• Mix a few hours before serving.
  

easy! or so i thought...

the first time i made this, it turned out great! and it was delicious. pictured here.it has a sort of asian-flavor to it, but it's really light and refreshing - great to eat. the only catch is... well, since you basically get the ramen noodles 'wet' they don't last more than a few hours. then they get soggy and mushy and you dont want to eat it. BUT it's so cheap to make - you can just make more!

the other thing is that i made this a second time a few days later and the dressing would not mix. i had decided to halve the recipe since it was just my father and i eating it and it doesn't last well in the fridge. but the ingredients would not whisk together to form a glaze/dressing. i thought it was because the sugar was kind of clumpy and hard. so i started over and decided not to halve the dressing (some bizarre rationale thinking that the "science" behind it must be a certain amount has to mix together or something). it still didn't mix very well and my arm was KILLING me from beating it with a fork, but it was better. but then i forgot that i didn't end up halving the recipe, so i forgot to un-halve the salad part. so i had a full dressing on a half salad. it ended up being very very oily. but still good, of course.

the third time i made it, i had the same issue with the dressing, so i put it in my new mixer. it didn't really help getting the dressing together better. i know there is some sort of explanation that alton brown can give to help clarify why it worked once and then never again. was it the type of oil i was using? type of vinegar? how long i should be whisking? what?? in any case, this recipe is cheap and delicious, even when screwed up a bit...

for full-disclosure, i do not have a source or even a proper name for this recipe, so if this is yours or you know where to find it online, please let us know and we would love to give it proper citing.