Thursday, May 7, 2009

Ramen.


I love good Asian food, be it Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian or Malaysian. But more often then not I'm afraid to cook it myself. I had one bad experience after another concocting sauces for cellophane and soba noodles--sauces involving peanut butter, brown sugar, lemon juice and soy sauce in various combinations that were some of few things I've ever made and deemed "inedible".

I had never bought ramen until a few weeks ago. My dad is always eating it at home--I think it's one of very few things he knows how to make. I was thinking of something else to toss broccoli with and it hit me--ramen without the broth packet! I could eliminate the sodium (though the amount of soy sauce I use could negate that...) and turn that $.30 wonder into a well-balanced meal!

But what sauce would I use? I decided to keep it simple and toss the noodles, pan-steamed broccoli and some sauteed tofu (to warm it through) with soy sauce and just a touch of chili garlic sauce. I've also used bottled teriaki sauce. I just invested in some toasted sesame oil--I'll let you know how that goes.

This meal has been a real life saver this week. I'm in the midst of starting the second of three papers due Monday. To get a carb, a veggie, and some protein all in one bowl in under ten minutes (for $1.50, more or less) is pretty incredible.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mother told me about your blog yesterday after church and I can't believe YOU never mentioned it to me. I love the recipes and your foodie stories! Your pictures are wonderful and I can't wait to try that no-rise bread recipe. By the way, I'll miss you this summer when you're running around the world- you make me feel old. (And if you haven't figured out who this is yet, you'll be thanking me one of these days when you get around to picking up my carefully used mixer.) I love you!

Nina said...

<3333333333
by the way, where are you? I'm going to bed. call brown if you need to be let in.