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It seems like when most of us are looking to turn a sad packet of instant ramen into a more proper meal, we tend to just throw in an egg, some spinach, perhaps a few sad pieces of seafood, and top it all off with sliced scallions😅. But instant ramen has so much more potential than that! We’ve compiled this brief list of jazz-ups that take merely 2min more than you normally would - 2min that are absolutely worth it😉! And if you dread doing the dishes, you’ll be pleased to know that you can make these with just one pot, your serving dish/bowl and your cutlery. That’s right, you won’t even need to reach for your knife, chopping board and ladle🎉!
1. Faux Mee Rebus
With the number of cheats in this recipe, it certainly won’t taste anything like an authentic Mee Rebus. But will it hit all the right spots nonetheless? Hell yeah! This should be your go-to whenever you have leftover mashed potato hanging in your fridge (never mind if it’s been blended with butter and milk or even slathered in gravy). Note: you should ditch the instant ramen seasoning oil for this one.
as desired mung bean sprouts (optional)
as desired firm tofu (optional)
as desired beef slices/mince (optional - thawed if kept frozen)
1 packet instant ramen
120g mashed potato
1g belacan (dried shrimp paste)
5g white miso
as desired chilli powder
as desired sugar
1) Pluck ends of bean sprouts and tear tofu into small chunks.
2) Bring a pan of water to a boil and add optional ingredients and ramen.
3) Transfer optional ingredients and ramen into a serving dish/bowl once cooked according to the time stipulated on the ramen packaging (or however long you see fit).
4) Pour off cooking water, leaving about 200g behind.
5) Return remaining water to heat, mix in (thoroughly!) potato, curry, belacan and miso, and bring to a simmer.
6) When gravy has reduced to desired consistency, taste (very important!) and season accordingly with chilli powder, sugar, and instant ramen seasoning powder. (add more sugar if it’s too salty)
7) Pour gravy on noodles and additions.
2. Faux Tonkotsu Shoyu
Another recipe full of cheats, but one that tastes closer to the real thing than you would expect. Unsweetened soy milk is used here to yield the all-important creaminess (don’t you dare think of using cow’s milk - that will compete with the pork flavour and yield something that tastes too much like carbonara to be a tonkotsu). And if you really have to have an egg, simply poach it in the broth at step 4. Note: you should ditch the instant ramen seasoning powder for this one.
1 packet instant ramen
as desired pork slices/mince (optional - thawed if kept frozen)
as desired wood ear mushrooms/black fungus (optional)
100g unsweetened soy milk
as desired soy sauce
as desired nori sheets
1) Bring a pan of water to a boil and add optional ingredients and ramen.
2) Transfer optional ingredients and ramen into a serving dish/bowl once cooked according to the time stipulated on the ramen packaging (or however long you see fit).
3) Pour off cooking water, leaving about 200g behind.
4) Return remaining water to heat, stir in soup concentrate and soy milk, and bring to a simmer.
5) Taste (very important!) and season accordingly with soy sauce and instant ramen seasoning oil.
6) Pour soup on noodles and additions; top with nori and furikake/togarashi.
3. Gado-Gado Noodle Salad
You probably don’t have gado-gado dressing sitting in your fridge, so do give our recipe (no. 4 in the hyperlinked article) for it a try so that you will be able to make this whenever you need to whip up a meal pronto. Unlike the two jazz-ups above, this should taste quite like the actual thing, just with some extra carbs (who doesn’t like that). Best of all, it’s just a matter of blanching some ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry and mixing everything together. Note: you won’t need the instant ramen seasoning powder and oil for this.
1 packet instant ramen
as desired mung bean sprouts (optional)
as desired firm tofu (optional)
as desired spinach (optional)
as desired cherry tomatoes (optional)
as desired corn kernels (optional)
200g gado-gado dressing
1) Pluck ends of bean sprouts and tear tofu into small chunks.
2) Bring a pan of water to a boil, add in bean sprouts, tofu, spinach and ramen, and cook according to the time stipulated on the ramen packaging (or however long you see fit).
3) Drain off as much water as possible and mix in remaining ingredients.
If none of the above ideas appeals to you, here are some additional tips that would be useful for cutting down prep time and spicing up your meal no matter what you intend to do with your instant ramen:
🔪 use a pan in place of a pot to cut down on the time it takes for the water to come to a boil
🔪 opt for ingredients that don’t require any chopping or slicing or which can be torn apart with your hands so you will have less dishwashing to do
🔪 if you are using frozen meat/seafood and really have no time at all, forget about thawing and just give them some extra cooking time by dumping them into the boiling water while you gather the rest of your ingredients (they might end up a little tough, though)
🔪 use furikake/sesame seeds as toppings in place of sliced scallions (you won’t have to reach for your knife and chopping board this way)
🔪 for an effortless flavour boost use dried bonito flakes as a topping
🔪 to give more body to your soup (1) add soy milk directly to the boiling broth just before killing the heat or (2) mix 10g of mayonnaise with a raw egg in your serving bowl before pouring on the hot soup and ingredients, stirring constantly for 1min (on top of imparting richness to your final dish, both of these cheats will also help to cool the soup down faster - great for those of you who dislike eating piping-hot stuff)
🔪 go for Samyang Potato Ramen if you are looking for noodles with a better texture; we should stress, however, that while its texture is out of this world, the seasoning ain’t that fantastic - so get creative and elevate it (we’ve literally bombarded you with tips so you don’t have much of an excuse not to)