When times were tough, did you live on ramen noodle soup?
On a cold night, you filled your belly with hot noodles in a briny broth?
You are not alone.
Check the cupboard of a college student or young professional that you know, perhaps a young journalist.
Chances are you’ll find little square cellophane packets of those coiled, dehydrated noodles with the tiny flavor pouches full of salt and “beef” or “chicken” or “shrimp” flavor that you stir in at the end of cooking.
They had two things going for them. They were cheap — and still are — and they were quick and easy to make.
Unlike the Japanese soba noodles, which are delicious in a lot of Asian dishes, ramen noodles are precooked, mixed with oil and dried. If you, like many of us, ate a lot of ramen noodle soup when your budget was thin, they might not appeal to you today.
My dad, who was a World War II veteran, felt that way about tinned meats. They fed him too much of that in the Army, he said, and he never wanted to eat it again.
Still, there are many people who love ramen noodles and use them in remarkably varied ways.
I know this because I discovered the Web site www.ramenlicious.com. You can visit there by clicking here.
It contains numerous recipes for dishes featuring ramen noodles, but it’s hard for me to take them seriously because they’re all rated with five stars. Even the Ramdoodles dish gets five stars, though that’s somewhat understandable since it contains not only ramen noodles but also Spam.
There’s a chocolate cake with ramen noodles recipe that, as I read it, starts with ready-made chocolate cupcakes which are sprinkled with toasted ramen noodles and then drenched in chocolate sauce. Tempting, right?
How about Jell-O with ramen noodles? The recipes are illustrated with color photos and this one looks like autopsy remnants, a big blob of red gelatin with white, wormy innards. It might work for Halloween, though.
Perhaps my favorite of all was the Ramen Pudding.
In this recipe, the ramen noodles are cooked and then reduced to a pudding consistency in a processor where you also add your favorite flavors.
Who needs kugel? We got Ramen Pudding.
Have a favorite recipe to share, with or without ramen noodles? E-mail us at foodforum@dailygazette.net.
