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8 September, 2015

Dressed-Up Ramen

Posted in : chicken, college, dinner, easy, food, foodie, funny, humor, lunch, noodles, ramen, recipe, Uncategorized, vegetables on by : Jeanette Rueb

Sorry about the late post, all! I hope everyone had a great Labor Day, and I would just like to point you guys in the direction of RIT Behind the Bricks. I do writing and photography for them, and my boss was kind enough to let me do a joint post, this week, between BTB and Apartment Eats. The two articles are slightly different. This one is a bit longer and more stylized, while the other one follows my work format. Also, when I say “slightly,” I really do mean slightly. I’m pretty sure there are about two sentences that are different between the two posts.

Anyway — Ramen time!!

It's like homemade chicken noodle soup!


Eating in college can be tough. After a while, the dining halls get kind of old, dorm cooking is kind of limited, and, let’s be honest: after all those fire alarms going off as a result of failed popcorn and Easy Mac, cooking can seem a little intimidating. Ah, life as a freshman. It doesn’t have to be dull, though, nor does it have to be expensive! I’ll walk you through a really simple and fast recipe for some souped-up (ha) Ramen. The coolest part about this is that all the ingredients for this recipe can be found at RIT’s own Corner Store (located on the A level of Nathaniel Rochester Hall, across from the post office) and it costs about $5 for a meal for two.

You will need some items that you can’t buy at the Corner Store, but which you can find at Wegmans or Walmart (behind/around the corner from Wegmans), and for pretty low prices. You can get to those places either by asking a friend who has a car or by taking the RIT Weekend Shuttle.

What you’ll need:
• Microwave safe bowl (for boiling water and cooking the Ramen)
• Two smaller bowls (for serving, unless you want to save on dishes to wash and just eat out of the bowl you cooked everything in)
• Microwave egg poacher (you can and should buy one of these for about $2 at Walmart. Not only do you need it for this particular recipe, but I’m a 4th year and I still use mine, just saying.)
• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Measuring cup
• Microwave
• Water
• 5 Sticks of celery
• 10 Baby carrots
• 2 Packages of Ramen Noodles (I used chicken flavor for this recipe)
• 2 Eggs

Okay, now that you know what you need and have washed your hands (I assume you know to do that before working with food, after all, you’re an adult now), let’s get cracking. Well, not cracking quite yet; the eggs come later. First, we need to get chopping. For those readers who aren’t quite sure how to chop veggies, you want to hold the knife in whichever hand has the most control, use a smooth sliding motion from front to back, focusing around the middle of the knife (think of the circular motion of the bars that power the wheels of a locomotive, but running in reverse). The hand that isn’t holding the knife should be holding what you’re cutting, at least a half an inch in front of (ie. on the majority of the food to be cut) your knife, with your fingertips curled down, so you’re holding the food with your fingertips/nails. That way, if you get a little too close, you snag your nail and not your fingertip.

Veggies!

Got that? I know that was a lot of logistics, but bear with me here.

After you’ve chopped the carrots and celery into ~1/4 to ~1/2 inch pieces, toss them in your microwave safe bowl and get your Ramen. Add the brick(s) of Ramen to your microwave safe bowl, along with your veggies, and add enough water to submerge the noodles. Microwave the Ramen for 3 minutes on high. Take it out, add the seasoning packs (I used about 1 1/2 packets, because I wanted to taste the veggies and not just salt, but that’s my preference), and stir. Let the seasoned water sit with the noodles and veggies for a little while (the time it takes for the eggs to cook is sufficient) before draining some of the liquid off, so it’s not completely soup. If you really, really like it soupy, go ahead and leave it all in. Draining it is my personal recommendation, but you do you, if leaving all the liquid in is what makes you happy.

After the Ramen has cooked, get out your egg poacher and follow the instructions that came with the cooker and make two eggs. Since it’s an egg poacher, you’re going to use water. I recommend using some of the seasoned water from the Ramen for some added flavor. Once the eggs are done, toss them on top of your Ramen and, voilà, dinner (or lunch or breakfast or second breakfast or Elevensies or whatever) is served! Feel free to add more veggies or eggs if you think you’re going to want more. I happen to be a small person with a small appetite. Think of other things you could throw in here, too, such as actual chicken (Wegmans and Walmart both have rotisserie chickens, which are great to toss into Caesar salad mixes for a quick dinner; I recommend using the leg and wing meat for that and saving the breast meat for sandwiches, snacking or occasions such as this).

What it really comes down to is this: Cooking ain’t all that hard. With a little bit of practice and a pinch of ambition, anyone can become a cook. If you’d like some easy recipes to start out with, check out my blog or, hey, pop me an email. I’m more than happy to lend a hand in the culinary department.

If only you could smell it!
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