Fully Dressed Ramen

Ramen noodles have been a staple for Marines in the barracks and in the field for a very long time. (Field Marines get sick of MRE’s after a while). I’m sure the same can be said about financially strapped college kids and those of us who are of the lower income bracket in general. What’s not to like about Ramen noodles ? They’re cheap, quick, and easy to make.

Unfortunately — the standard Ramen noodles that you find in rows and rows for dirt cheap in the grocery stores are about as unhealthy as you can get. I’ve probably eaten enough of these things in my day to fill the back of an 18 wheeler trailer. Turns out the companies that produce these actually deep fry them before drying them out. And the “sauce packet” inside is so full of chemicals and salts….. it’s ridiculous how bad these are for you. I might have stumbled upon a better solution for Ramen.

Since I’m a crusty old man these days…. I have a number of Old Man Problems. And raging diabetes is one of them. I have been really watching what I eat lately simply because I want to live long enough to be a complete pain in the ass to the rest of society. You read that right. I exist now out of sheer spite in a way. I’ve had to put up with the bullshit from the rest of the world for so long, that I figure now it’s my time. It’s my turn to be a pain in the ass for a change. There’s method to my madness so here’s what I did with one of my favorite old time dishes. I’m working on eating better and trying to salvage some of my health these days, just to piss off the rest of the world.

Now this ain’t a standard Asian dish that I’m aware of. It’s maybe Asian-like in the fact it’s got noodles in it, but I don’t follow a recipe here.

This all starts off with Ramen that I got from Amazon. It’s labeled “Rice Ramen”, but the label specifically states it’s made from millet. Good. It’s cheap enough to order it by the case full, and it’s not deep fried and doesn’t have a chemistry degree required before you can eat it. So two tiny packets of these Ramen noodles goes into an InstantPot to cook for EXACTLY ONE minute. Yep. You read that correctly. One whole minute to cook and about 10 minutes pressure release.

Now it’s time to start dressing this simple dish out to the “9’s”. All the extras to make this quick dish a full bore feeding. I started about 3 ounces of ground chicken in a pan on low heat.

In next goes some chunks of red, green, and yellow bell peppers. Some matchstick carrots. And some slices of green onions. Add a splash of red wine (merlot happens to be the poison of choice presently) and simmer until tender.

Since there’s no metal foil sauce packets, I decided to make my own sauce. A little bit of rice vinegar, some chili oil, and some soy sauce. You just mix this stuff by eyeballing it. I have no real recipe telling you the amounts of each to use. Once you get it to taste like you want it — I reckon you’re done.

Once the meat and veggies are cooked, I added a big wad of alfalfa sprouts to the pan. Yeah, I know…. It looks like a matte of grass in the pan, but trust me it’s pretty darned good tasting. But wait — there’s something still missing here and I ALMOST can’t put my finger on it……

Oh yeah ! The missing ingredient ! A lightly fried scrambled egg. Just one…. And barely cooked enough to where it doesn’t jiggle a whole lot. Still nice and soft.

So here it is. Everything mixed in….. the sauces, the veggies, meat, egg, and the grass matte in the form of alfalfa sprouts. If I had enough time to do bean sprouts I’d have added them too.

Now this ain’t a standard Asian dish that I’m aware of. It’s maybe Asian-like in the fact it’s got noodles in it, but I don’t follow a recipe here. I’m a guy who really doesn’t like eating from a tin can and a microwave….. so I just start throwing stuff in a pan and hope for the best. Most of the time it turns out pretty good and oftentimes I can repeat the experiment to some degree. I mean if I wanted to get really fancy I would just throw something in like water chestnuts and some peanuts or walnuts in it for good measure. But the thing is — I wanted something quick and easy to make and just throw it together in a hurry without a lot of fuss. And the other requirement is that it has to be edible. I like the taste of it. Of course your mileage may vary, but — there you have it.