Making a real ramen from scratch is best left to the experts. The soup stock is an art in itself. So for us ordinary folk, make ramen in your own home using packet ramen – but transform it by piling on stir fried vegetables cooked with a light sauce. It’ll make instant ramen unrecognisable!
I grew up being taught that instant meals were bad bad bad. The same applied to take out, frozen meals and canned meals. It wasn’t until I moved out of home and instant ramen became a regular in my midweek meal rotation that it dawned on me that my mum used to dish up ramen all the time – using instant ramen.
“That’s against her rules!”, I thought. “What a hypocrite!”
Night after night, I’d rip open a packet of ramen and boil it up in a saucepan, throwing in whatever scraps of vegetables I happened to have wilting in the fridge. As a poor uni student, I’d eat anything. But every time, I would think “Why is mum’s so much better?”
It wasn’t until many years later when I actually started earning enough to be able to afford decent ingredients and taking an interest in cooking that I asked my mother how she makes her ramen. “It’s all in the topping”, she said to me wisely. “Anyone can just boil vegetables in the ramen soup. But if you top it with vegetables stir fried in a sauce, it is much better.”
How true her words were. OK, so it’s a bit more effort than tossing everything into one saucepan. But the little bit of extra effort of stir frying the vegetables and making a sauce truly transforms a plain packet of instant ramen into a bowl of noodle goodness that you would never even associate with packet ramen.
As for mum being a hypocrite? I take that back. I don’t think this counts as an “instant” meal if you make the effort to add a stir fry topping! Plus, there are some things that are best left to the experts. Ramen is on that list – you either get it from a ramen shop, or you use instant. I once attempted to make ramen soup stock, from scratch. I researched for hours about techniques and the right stock bones to use, and I cooked it for hours. It was a dismal effort, nowhere near as tasty as even the average ramen shops in Tokyo, or even in Sydney.
Packet ramen soup stock is pretty darn good these days, if you ask me. Not like back when I was in school when all you could get was Maggi Noodles (which was actually yellow from the artificial chicken stock powder!) and Cup-a-Noodles. Most instant ramen soups have a decent depth of flavour and not just lots of salt. My tip is to get an Asian brand (you can usually tell from the packet – lots of Asian characters on it!). I am a creature of habit, and since I first discovered Shin Ramyun, I have remained loyal to it. This is a Korean brand of instant ramen. I’m of Japanese background and there are a lot of Japanese instant ramens on the market, but this is my ramen of choice because I love the intense spicy, strong flavoured soup.
You can use whatever vegetables you have to make this. I used carrots, mushrooms, bean sprouts and Chinese cabbage, because that’s what I happened to have. Just remember to cut them into bite size pieces that will cook in a wok, and to add them into the wok in order of how long they will take to cook, starting with the ingredients that take the longest first.
This is a great midweek meal to add to your rotation for those days when you just don’t have the energy to make a meal completely from scratch! You will have it on the table in 15 minutes, piping hot, ready to slurp down!
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Packet Ramen Makeover
Ingredients
- 1 packet instant ramen (Note 1)
Stir Fry (about 2 1/2 cups of chopped vegetables, Note 2)
- 1 cup Chinese cabbage (loosely packed), chopped into 2.5cm/1" pieces
- 1/2 carrot , sliced on the diagonal
- 3 mushrooms , sliced (I used shiitake)
- 1/4 cup bean sprouts
- 1/2 shallot/scallion , finely sliced (for garnish)
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1/2 tbsp peanut oil
Stir Fry Sauce
- 1/2 tsp corn flour / cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp chinese cooking wine (Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- Dash of sesame oil (optional)
- 3 tbsp water
Instructions
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well until there are no cornflour lumps.
- Bring water to boil and cook ramen per packet instructions, using the soup stock packet that comes with the ramen. (See Notes)
- Heat oil in wok (or fry pan) over high heat. Add garlic and stir fry for 20 seconds until fragrant - be careful not to burn it.
- Add carrots and mushrooms and stir fry for 30 seconds, then Chinese cabbage and stir fry for another 30 seconds.
- Add sauce and cook for 30 seconds until it becomes thick and glossy.
- Remove from heat, immediately add the bean sprouts and give a quick stir to coat the bean sprouts in the sauce and use the residual heat to slightly cook the bean sprouts.
- Place noodles and soup in bowl, top with vegetables and garnish with shallots. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
If I were to add some protein to this dish, do you think Char Siu would suit?
Hi Leon, char siu would be amazing! Great idea – N x
Ramen noodles, taste them again for the first time. ? It has been so, so many years since I have had ramen noodles! (25 years easy) I can still remember the artificial taste.?
These noodles didn’t have that artificial flavour. I was impressed with the flavours/spices.
Just had to try this though . Hubbie found the same ramen noodles in our grocery store (just lucky). I was worried they would be crazy spicy , but they weren’t…though for sure warms ya up!
This dish was fantastic! What a wonderful way to jazz up a package of ramen noodles! And so quick and easy . Definitely a recipe I will be keeping and using again.
That’s so fantastic to hear Sandra! Thank you for letting me know! N xx
I just made this a couple days ago, but I think I got the wrong kind of ramen because it didn’t have broth – it said on the package to drain it. My husband and I liked it anyway. We didn’t get super hot ramen either, which was nice. I just used white wine for the wine. And I used maitake mushrooms because I couldn’t find shitake, not sure how much that changed the flavour. Really great dish anyways. I usually use ramen in cream soup or as spaghetti so I can just microwave it, or there’s this great green beans and beef recipe that calls for it, but this was a nice change.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Rebecca! Thanks for letting me know! N x
I made this yesterday and it was delicious. I’m glad you recommended these noodles cause I never would have thought to try them. They are far superior to any other I have had. All around fast and easy dish and I love the spice so much I stir fried some red chilies at the very beginning to kick it up even more!
Love love love your blog, I have yet to make a recipe of yours that has disappointed!
They ROCK, don’t they!!! The best soup stock ever! So glad you enjoyed this Taz, thanks so much for coming back to let me know! N x
Hey ^^ I want to make this using the mason jar lunch concept, can I put dry ramen and all the prepared ingredients as the same, but add hot water to it just when I want to eat it ? Will it alter the taste ?
Hi Shankar – I haven’t tried that actually! I must give it a go!!
Good idea about 1/2 packet…I will try and get back to you when my lips calm down LOL!
Maybe I’m a wimp and you did say it was spicy … But my lips are on fire! I found Shin Ramyun at my local Walmart..It came in packet of 4….(I only ate 1/2 portion tonight and would like to finish tomorrow?)….So….is there anything I can do to temper the HOT HOT! I did add Thai basil it was great but still too HOT for me. Any suggestions? Also, when I make it again with the other 3 packets….Any suggestions to cool it down for me???? I did love the flavor however, to spicy for me…:(
Hi Lyn!!! Ooh, I know, it IS spicy spicy! You poor thing!!! I’m sorry, I can’t think of a way to temper the heat other than only using half the packet of seasoning and adding chicken broth to make up for less flavour???
Made this, eating it right now!! When I was growing up ramen was never eaten plain. It was always an opportunity to throw in whatever veggies were in the fridge. Frying the sauce & veggies together is BRILLIANT! Another wonderful recipe.
Yay! So glad you love this!! I grew up eating food like this, being of Japanese background!! N x
Hi Nagi.
I only discover Ramen noodles a few years ago. What i did was fry some bacon until crisp, when noodle were done, added the bacon, put in a bowl and ate. I have since learnt that one can add a poached egg on top while noodles were cooking, i have done this, was very nice.
I love your way with vegetables. Will be making this a lot now. Can one add cooked chicken or cooked prawns or cooked pork etc.
Hi June! Absolutely 🙂 The skies the limit, you can add anything you want into the topping mixture!! 🙂
I’m far too lazy a cook to make my own broth, I shudder to think what you went through! I grew up with the Maggi brand too and it’s really underwhelming. The only saving grace it has is the curry flavor which we used to eat as a mazemen with vegeatbles and stuff. That stuff was so goood! I’ve seen that brand you recommend around but now I have the courage to try it out 😉
Definitely give it a try! If you like strong flavours you will love it!
Your mum is so wise and skillful. This dish is such a great idea. I too love my ramen and the same packet too I believe. The addition of a light veg stir-fry is so good to turn these already tasty noodles into a very special meal. The creation of a home-made ramen broth does sound wonderful. 🙂
Homemade ramen broth is way too hard!! Never again – best left to the experts 🙂