Survival Sunday 3

This is the story of my black ramen adventure.

A while back I found myself in possession of a package of black rice ramen noodles. I actually had two packages, but I’ve already eaten some of the first package – long before I decided to blog about food. As for this one, it’s been languishing in my S/O (Z)’s room. Z and I planned for a while what we were going to do about the ramen, so we had a bunch of ingredients on-hand for the experience, including some packages of miso soup, some eggs, some scallions, some nori & bonito, and some time. Not the herb, thyme, but actual time. We wanted this to work, dammit.

On the way back to the kitchen, we picked up some drinks – San Pellegrino hasn’t steered us wrong so far, and they had two flavors we hadn’t had before: Pomegranate & Orange and Prickly Pear & Orange. We’re both suckers for oranges, pomegranates, and cacti, so we hustled the cans back and got ready to roll on our black noodle soup.

I preferred the Pomegranate, but Z really loved the Prickly Pear!

The black ramen I picked up has no food coloring – that’s right. That rich black tone? It’s because it’s made from black rice! I found my ramen at a TJ Maxx, but you can definitely order it online, and if you live near civilization, you might be able to hit up an Asian market and find some. To be honest, I’ve never lived near specialty shops beyond the local wholesaler who sells bulk products mostly to restaurants (I’ve been known to buy the gallon cans of chocolate pudding, but that’s a gorge-story for another time :P).

I think this pack of 3 bricks was about $4?

Taste the forbidden goodness!

We started by getting the water up to a boil, chopping up the scallions/green onions and getting everything together in one place so that once the cooking started we could more easily assemble the bowls.

Bonito flakes are dried fish, so if you're vegan/vegetarian, you can skip them. They're pretty strong, too.

This is a bit deceptive because of the angle, but the bricks were pretty small and the eggs were pretty large regardless.

After the initial assemblage, I put the instant miso soup mix we had on-hand (it’s super cheap, guys – like $2 for a half dozen servings and it comes with dried tofu and veggies) into our bowls. We used the big bowls because that’s how we roll.

I promise that miso tastes much better than it looks.

Then I boiled the eggs until the yolks turned yellow and turned to ask Z to bring me the bowls, only to find that Z had remembered a key ingredient I’d forgotten: Frozen corn! It was already in the bowls by the time I tossed the eggs in to warm the corn and steep in the miso.

Eggs, miso, corn

And now the dehydrated bits from the soup! I love tofu & seaweed - great combo.

Here comes the kind of freaky part: the black ramen was placed in the still-boiling water to cook.

The froth is from the egg whites that didn't make the trip to the bowls. Also, we like to add some scallion to the water to soften up and flavor the noodz!

It’s freaky because it kind of turns the water a muddy, purplish black. If you’ve ever made black beans, it’ll be a familiar color.

I promise it's good, guys, I promise!

After the noodles had finished softening and heating through, we finished assembling our bowls. When the bonito hit Z's bowl, they started doing the iconic bonito dance, flapping in the steam for a brief moment before the bowl vanished before my eyes and Z disappeared into the dining room. By the time I got to the table, Z's ramen was ancient history, leaving behind only joy. When I sat down to eat mine, it was pretty clear why Z's had vanished so quickly - it was amazing! The ramen and broth had thawed the corn so that it was still cool, but it wasn't cold enough to be weird, and the cool corn helped offset the heat from the soup. 10/10 will eat again.

The tan bits are the bonito flakes, the black scraps are the nori!

My bowl, just before being transferred to the table

The yolk was still orange in the middle, but firm, and as you eat the egg, it crumbles into the broth and thickens it!

It’s pretty interesting to note that when the noodles are cooked, they turn more of a purplish brown. In fact, it looks an awful lot like some of the seaweed I’ve seen at the beach!

Speaking of the beach, it’s about 90 degrees in my room as I write this. About 75% humidity too. It’s not a pleasant day. I think I might go downstairs and eat some leftover rice cold.

RECIPE FOR BLACK RAMEN

You’ll need:

- black ramen (1 block/person)

- instant miso soup (1 package/person)

- eggs (1/person)

- frozen corn (about a handful/person)

- scallions/green onion (maybe 2/person, chopped how you like)

- nori and/or bonito flakes (optional)

- sesame seeds to garnish

- enough water to boil the noodles & eggs in

* ladle for stirring & serving

* pot for boiling water & cooking eggs and noodles in

* some way to get the noodles out (I used chopsticks, but anything you’d use to remove spaghetti with works here too. Same basic idea. Get noodles out)

1) Assemble your ingredients so they’re easy to grab. Seriously, if you get everything in one place it’s so much easier and faster this way.

2) Assemble your bowl(s) – empty the miso soup base & dehydrated veggie packs into the bowl(s), then toss in your scallions and corn. Don’t bother thawing the corn – it’ll melt while the noodles and eggs are cooking.

3) Get a pot of water up to a boil (don’t bother salting the water) and crack in your egg(s). If you’ve got a ladle, try scooping the yolks up gently so they don’t a) burst, b) burn, or c) get lost under the inevitable egg foam. Let the egg(s) cook until they look like hard-boiled yolks – nice and yellow. It’s ok if they still have some orange in the middle. Trust me. I hate runny eggs and it was still perfect the way it kind of melted into the soup, thickening it and making it tasty.

Conversely, if you’re vegan or allergic to eggs or whatever, skip this step. It’s not necessary. I just find it tasty.

4) Scoop your egg(s) out of the water (gently, now!) and lay it/them (gentle, gentle) on top of your pre-assembled bowl(s)

5) Now you get to watch your nice, clear water turn to something kind of scary. It’s ok. Put the ramen in. It’s going to turn purple. The ramen is going to get weird and rubbery before it softens. That’s normal. Keep an eye on your ramen, though! You don’t want it overcooked.

While it’s cooking, I try to take a few scoops of the ramen water out and add it to the miso bowl(s) to start making the soup our noodles will end up in. Your noodles will also bring water into the situation, so don’t add more than a couple scoops for now – you probably don’t want to flood the table!

6) Check your noodz – are they soft without being like overdone spaghetti? Good! Time to turn off the heat and start transferring the noodles to the bowls! Once they’re arranged and topped to your liking with your nori seaweed and/or bonito flakes and/or sesame seeds, you can ladle in some more water until your soup is at a level you like.

7) Mix it up, my friend, so all those tasty flavors can mingle!

8) In the words of Weird Al: “EAT IT!”

Now, this recipe can be used for literally any kind of ramen style noodle – you could even use this with vermicelli or rice noodles if you wanted! Just follow the instructions on your noodle packs and you should be golden :)

Alright, that should do it for this section, now here’s your Spice of the Week!

found on Google

Paprika!

This tasty spice can be added to most savory dishes for a nice, but nearly indescribable flavor. Paprika tastes like paprika – warm and comforting, sometimes smoky (if you buy smoked paprika) or sweet (if you buy sweet paprika). If you have an allergy to bell peppers, you CANNOT have paprika – it’s literally dried, ground bell pepper.

I will have a nice recipe for you all next week which uses each of your spices of the week and can be done easily, quickly, and in any quantity you like.

Now go out and Enjoy Something!!!!

FC