Mambo Italiano

My mother told me about a meal that her grandmother used to make for her. Pasta with tuna in a red sauce. I was like ummmm what? I like tuna fish, but in red sauce? Then I was like you know what, that sounds good with Shrimp Flavor Top Ramen. So I decided to make it. Basically, I'd be saving on the pasta by subbing it with Ramen noodles and probably getting a great meal, so not trying it, would be blasphemous. I will call this dish:

Tuna Fish with an Italian Twist


Here is what you will need:

The usual suspects:
Vegetable Oil
Red Pepper Flakes
Garlic Powder
1/2 cup of water

Plus

Marinara Sauce ( I got the store brand why? Because it was like $1.50...DUH. )
1 can of chunk light tuna fish in water
1 packet of Shrimp Flavor Top Ramen
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup of onions, roughly chopped
1 medium-sized sauce pan

Coat the sauce pan with vegetable oil and heat on medium. Toss in the onions and be sure to pay attention to them so you don't do what i did last time and burn them!

Now, to the ramen. Like usual, put the ramen in a bowl, and add 1/2 cup of water. Cook on high for 2 minutes and 45 seconds. When finished, take a fork and mash the ramen up so all of it is saturated in the water.

This...

To this

Add only about 1/2 the packet of shrimp flavoring. It is a strong flavor and you only want to have the noodles taste a little like it, as the tuna fish will add the most flavor. Once you have stirred the powder in, drain the noodles. 

The onions should be a bit translucent by now, so add your garlic and saute. Only for a little because you do not want the garlic to be toasted. 

bad picture, sorry. you don't care though...right?

Once the garlic has cooked for a minute, add the marinara sauce and stir, lower the heat and let simmer for a couple of minutes. 

Open the can of tuna fish and instead of draining the water into to sink, drain the tuna water onto the noodles and toss the noodles so that the tuna water covers all of the noodles. Let sit for a minute and then drain the noodles once more. You want to make sure most, if not all, of the liquid has drained.

Take the tuna fish and add it into the sauce pan with the marinara, and stir. Stirring will chop the tuna fish up into the sauce, which is what you want. Then let the completed heat up for a minute.

From this..

To this ( another bad picture, I promise, I'm working on it! )

Once the sauce has heated up, pour over your noodles. I like to add some garlic powder and red pepper flakes at the end for some extra flavor. 

Like always, enjoy now or later. 

Until next time, ramen on. 

Fiesta de Ramen Con Pollo!

Okay, so there is no actual chicken in this one but there is chicken flavor! Contrary to popular belief, ramen does not need to be strictly oriental so what I decided to do, was to take the chicken Top Ramen and turn it into Superior Ramen, or Top Ramen in Espanol...I think? Either way the name is fitting because this dish is definitely superior to others. Just in time for Cinco De Mayo, I will call this:

Mas Ramen Por Favor!

Things you will need:

look! the veggies almost look like the Mexican flag, almost, maybe? 

1 Chicken Flavor Top Ramen

Vegetable Oil

Red Pepper Flakes

Adobo Seasoning

Garlic Powder

1/8 cup sliced green bell pepper

1/4 cup red bell pepper

1/8 cup of sliced onion 

1/2 cup of water

A medium-sized sauce pan

Coat pan with oil and turn stove-top on medium heat. 

Toss onions in the pan and cook till translucent, basically about the time it takes to cook the ramen. 

oops.

Well while I was busy with the noodles, I burned the onions. I figured though, my fajita onions always come out a little burned, so I just turned down the heat and let them be. No sense in crying over "toasted" onions. Add the peppers (both) to sauce pan and saute Sprinkle on garlic powder and adobo spices and toss.

Back to the ramen. Do the usual. Take the packaged ramen and place the block in the bowl with 1/2 cup of water and cook on high for 2 minutes and 45 seconds. When it is finished, take a fork and mash the ramen up so all of the noodles are saturated.

From this....

To this. 

Add chicken flavoring to ramen and stir. Then add a palmful of Adobo spice to ramen and stir. Add red pepper flakes, about a handful, and stir.

This is what the ramen should look like when its ready to go into the saucepan.

Once the peppers have softened, add the completed, prepped, ramen noodles into the sauce pan by scooping the noodles out with the fork. Once stirred into the sauce pan with the peppers and onions, add the left over chicken broth and stray noodles. 

Toss the broth with the ramen, peppers, and onions and let cook until the broth becomes a thicker sauce. Once finished, pour the completed product into the bowl you used to enjoy at the moment or save for later!

Yay! Fiesta! 

I am not positive if this item will make its way on your favorite Mexican restaurants menu anytime soon, but it will definitely become a favorite of yours. The ingredients cost me about 5 dollars and the time taken was about 10 minutes, give or take a few. 

Until next time, ramen on. 

Wheres the beef?

Okay, so there is no actual beef in this ramen dish but there is beef flavor! In this simple recipe I have taken the already yummy beef Top Ramen and have turned it into something extra-special. I will call this :

When Ginger Met Beefy

Things you will need :

1 packet of Beef flavor Top Ramen
Less than 1/8 cup of Vegetable Oil
1/8 cup of Soy Sauce ( I use low Sodium Kikkoman )
1/8 cup of Ginger dressing ( any will do but I use Makoto )
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 cup of water
A stove
A microwave
A microwavable bowl

Put 1/2 cup of water in the microwavable bowl and take ramen out of packet and put it in the bowl as well it should look like this:

No, not all of the noodles will be in water but relax! We will cover that post-radiation.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes and 45 seconds
Take a fork and mash the noodles in the bowl so that you break them up and so all of the noodles are saturated in water.

Place a medium-sized sauce pan on the stove and put the burner on medium heat. 

Pour in vegetable oil, only enough to coat the bottom of the pan. 

Once the sauce pan has heated, scoop noodles out of the bowl, do not pour as you want to use the extra water later.

Toss noodles in the pan to ensure they are coated in veg oil. 

Pour the soy sauce in and toss noodles until all are coated in soy sauce

Toss the ginger dressing in the pan

Toss the noodles with the ginger so that the dressing gets evenly spread.

Add the red pepper flakes this how much I use and my dish on a spice meter would be about a medium.

Toss the noodles around and let cook while you take the beef flavoring packet from the noodle packet and pour in the bowl with the excess water and stray noodles ( they need a home too ).

Stir until the powder has dissolved and pour the flavoring into the sauce pan and let broth cook off for about a minute or until noodles have a thick texture.

Once noodles have thickened, pour them into the bowl you have been using and enjoy now or save to re-heat later!

This took about 10 minutes all together and the once drab Top Ramen has been made to a fab ramen dish that is good enough to compete with your favorite chinese or asian take-out place!

Until next time, ramen on. 

What to eat, what to eat.

Are you someone in college or someone who has little to no desire to go food shopping just to spend a butt-load of money on a very small amount of groceries? Good. Because this is exactly the person I am. Although I am ending my college career with the G-word in just a few short weeks, I know that my burning desire to spend the least amount of money and time in the grocery store will continue with me after I get that diploma.

My diet has changed much through my four years here at Saint Joseph's University from always eating in the school cafeteria to always eating out else where. One thing is, I rarely cook because I rarely feel like it and I don't want to spend the money on groceries. Well, my bank account has felt the wrath of my spending habits and so one night I was ravaging through my almost empty kitchen cabinets for something to eat for dinner. What did I see? Top Ramen. A favorite of my friend's and mine when we were in our Freshman dorms and the only thing we had was a microwave. Plus, at 99 cents a packet, how could I resist the investment?! I actually loved ramen when I was a freshman but now, I have a more mature palate so I felt the blandness of it would not be enough for me. So i brainstormed and after microwaving the noodles, I put the stove on and sauteed those babies up with some extra ingredients found in my fridge. What I got was something 100x better than what I ever could have imagined. I just took Top Ramen and brought it to the next level.

Like in Plato's Allegory of the cave, it is my job to go back and let all the ill-informed know about what I have discovered and how I discovered it! So for all who want to read on my first few posts will be pretty simple and hopefully, together, we can come up with great ways to keep making Top Ramen a glamourous meal.