Show Your Noodles – Week 7

This week, we received three more awesome submissions from you guys! Thanks! Here they are, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place as judged by my lovely wife.

First place! This picture was sent in by Matthew B. of Port Townsend, Washington. Here’s what he had to say:

“Deep-fried ramen on a bed of cheddar cheese and fried eggs topped with mayonnaise and bacon garnished with falafel balls. This was an experiment…c’mon. A long time coming. This is America, and we deep-fry everything. So one night i was sitting there thinking, “why hasn’t anyone deep-fried ramen yet?” The only sensible way to do it was by dipping the whole ramen “patty” in hot oil. This is Maruchan Ramen. Chicken flavor. I actually ended up not using the flavor packet. All i was going for was the deep-fried noodles. I fired up the old grease, which already had a base of flavor from past pizza rolls and tater tots, dropped in the “patty” and let it crispen for about five seconds. Any more than that and it would burn, or become too hardened for practical consumption. It floats so you have to turn it over for even cooking. I already had a bed of grated sharp cheddar and fried eggs prepared, (eggs atop the cheese to melt it slightly,) so i just put the finished patty over the eggs. Then i spread mayo over the patty to hold the bacon in place. And finally, since i didn’t use the flavor packet, i decided to add falafel balls to the mix to give it some spice. Altogether an enjoyable meal. Perfect cooking time is a must for the noodles, so that their crispiness factor is just right to offset the softness of the eggs. Having previous flavors in the grease makes this a uniquely indulgent eating experience.”

Second place! Here’s yet another submission from Oana T. of Bratislava, Slovakia. Here’s what she had to say about it:

I’m sending you another bowl, given that we just found an Asian market here in Bratislava, which means indomie, indomie and some indomie too. This one is Indomie (who would have thought?) Mi Goreng Pedas, yummy as hell, plus egg, green onion, cucumber, lime and lots of snow on the side.

Third place! Here’s a submission by Michelle L. of Tarrytown, New York. Here’s what she had to say:

I have been wanting to contribute for a while, but I’ve been on a “healthy” kick for several weeks, which for me includes no processed or fried foods.  I decided to make my own homemade noodle dish with lots of veggies!   

My ingredients included:

udon noodles
tofu
minced ginger
minced garlic
vegan “beef” flavored bouillon
frozen “soycutash” (corn, red pepper & edamame mix)
broccoli slaw
green onions
tamari
Sriracha
rice vinegar

I pan fried the tofu with a little tamari & chili sauce in a separate pan while I was making the noodles.  I like Trader Joe’s “sprouted” tofu because it comes with 2 mini packs that are each perfect for 1 meal (I LOVE Trader Joe’s- can you tell?)
To make the noodles: First I brought the ginger, garlic & bouillon to a boil, then added the noodles & cooked until they were almost done.  Then I added some  frozen succotash & brought the soup back to boil to heat the vegetables and finish cooking the noodles.  I also added tamari, chili sauce and a little splash of rice vinegar to taste.  Lastly, I tossed in a handful of broccoli slaw and added the cooked tofu to the pot.  After I got the noodles into a bowl, I topped them with sliced green onion & took their picture!  Yum. 
It may seem like a lot more work than instant noodles, but it took less than 15 minutes & was definitely worth it!  The broccoli slaw was a great addition- it was cooked just enough in the hot soup, but stayed crunchy: kind of like when you eat bean sprouts in pho.  The long noodle-like shape also blends in very nicely- I will try using it more often to cut back on starch & to sneak more vegetables into my noodles.

Thanks to all of you for your submissions! Feel free to submit more if you’ve sent in something before! The more the merrier!All you need to do is send a picture (or two) to me at info@theramenrater.com. Write a little something about what you’re sending, including your First name, last initial and where you’re from! It’ll get posted in the next Show Your Noodles!