You knew it was bound to happen, and now it has. I spent so much time making different things with Nissin Cup Noodles Pumpkin Spice Flavor – but I never made a pizza. Weird? Of course! Insane? Naw, not really. Since I always like to do a duo of pizzas, I also made one with Nissin Fire Wok Sizzlin’ Rich Pork – that’s my favorite of that range. Well, prepare yourselves – some fascinating waters are ahead. Sometime I’ll use lecithin or egg as an emulsifier and grind up noodles to make dough for pizza – that will be interesting. But not I think today. Here we go.
Pumpkin Spice Cup Noodles Ramen Pizza Party!
Video Presentation
The action-packed and amazingly scored visual presentation is here! Watch in amazement as instant noodles co-mingle with the world of pizza – PIZZA RAMEN COMETH. By the way – the intro and outro sequences – I figured out there’s a little space between the sunroof and the sliding thing that covers it up – a perfect spot to put my phone pointed upwards. I set it to record at 4k 60fps (I wish they’d make it so it’d do at least 120fps if not 240fps) and I shot video of coming home and of going through the car wash. The voice in the outro is my 7 year old Miles – he was screaming his head off (his professional job) and at 50% speed, he sounds a lot like me. Found that interesting.
Directions
Dough
- 4 c AP flour
- 1 1/3 c hot water
- 2 tbsp butter
- some salt
- some sugar
- 1 tsp yeast
Put it all in a bread machine set for dough. First the water, then the butter, salt and sugar. Half or so of the flour, stick your yeast in there and top with more flour. I can’t say enough how a bread machine has changed my life for the better. Did you know people get these things and do absolutely nothing with them? That’s great for you because you can get one at a thrift store for dirt cheap – and they’re usually in great condition! Mine is a Zojirushi that I got for $27, and it’s an older model – the newer one is black and does exactly the same thing and costs 10x as much. The first one I got was $12.
Flour your surface (heh heh) and hands, and a rolling pin. Now get a grip of dough and roll it flat as you want. Flip it a bunch on the floured surface – it’s pretty resiliant and stretchy stuff. Get a deep dish pizza pan set or just use a cookie sheet. Hose it down with cooking spray and use a paper towel to grease it semi-well.
First, I did the Cup Noodles Pumpkin Spice. I added a tad less water than the fill line and cooked it the same way as on the label. Then, used a soup spoon to add it to the crust and swirls it around evenly. Then a ton of noodles, and then some diced apple which i had tossed with cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg. I wanted it to stay together so I added mozarella. 425 degrees for 16 minutes.
The second pizza was Nissin Fire Wok Sizzlin’ Rich Pork – my favoitre of the range. Same thing – a little less water to make the broth less watery, then coat the crust with it. Added noodles, then thin sliced barbecue pork, and then mozzarella.
Prior to baking.
Nissin Cup Noodles Pumpkin Spice Flavor Pizza
Finished (click to enlarge). Yeah – definitely something different. However, really not bad. The pumpkin spice flavor was definitely there. The combo of that and the apple-cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg worked well – the apples ended up still slightly crisp and soft at the same time. Tried it with whipped cream as well – not necessary, but not bad.
A side shot of the pizza (click to enlarge).
Nissin Fire Wok Sizzlin’ Rich Pork Pizza
Finished (click to enlarge). Of the two, this was my favorite. It was a lot like a spicy tonkotsu – the slightly more concentrated broth made a big different. The sweetness of the barbecue pork was a nice offset as well. I think this pie would have been even better if there were some vegetables involved – sliced tomato would have been really nice here. Nevertheless, it was quite good.
What’s Wrong With You, Dude?
Dude, I don’t know. I honestly really like doing this. I’ve been reviewing instant noodles for a long time now and this is so much fun. Making bread with instant noodles is a lot of fun as well; The winter of 2020 my author buddy Matt had just gotten a thrift store bread machine at a Goodwill for $8. He was making all these neat sounding breads and I thought ‘hey what about instant noodle bread?’ He was the one who initially tried it out. Then we did a couple experimentations. I then got my own after a while at a thrift store and really went crazy with it. I’ll say one thing – DON’T BAKE BREAD IN A BREAD MACHINE. It’s stupid. Use an oven – use the bread machine to make your dough. The bread machine does a crummy job – sure, it’ll make bread, but it’s going to be weird because that bread machine isn’t going to hit 350 degrees for half an hour – it’ll only do maybe 200 and then it takes an hour. Anyways, I could go on for days about this stuff – but yeah – make your own bread and pizza dough – hell, just make your own pizza dough! A bag of all purpose flour is enough to make a ton of pizza and costs less than a store bought pizza. That’s my public service announcement. Chances are you know someone with a bread machine just sitting in their attic – ask around someone will be more than happy to dump it on you and your life will change. More to come!
