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.
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| 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).
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| I think this pack of 3 bricks was about $4? |
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| 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.
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| Bonito flakes are dried fish, so if you're vegan/vegetarian, you can skip them. They're pretty strong, too. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Eggs, miso, corn |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The tan bits are the bonito flakes, the black scraps are the nori! |
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| My bowl, just before being transferred to the table |
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| 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!
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| 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
