Toward the end of the first quarter of 2020 when grocery trips were limited and grocery shelves were often emptied by panicky shoppers, we shopped mostly from a Korean store that delivered to our doorstep.
Instant ramen, Japanese and Korean seasonings and condiments, and thinly sliced beef and pork (the kind used for hotpots and tabletop grills) were available, and we made the most of them.
This instant miso ramen was made by my younger daughter, Alex, in March 2020. The dried seaweed, we bought in Japan in late 2019.
Instant Miso Ramen
Making real miso ramen is multi-step process that involves ingredients that aren't always available outside Asia. In this inspired hack, spinach, pork and seaweeds were added to a pack of instant noodles to make a delicious instant miso ramen meal.
Ingredients
- 1 pack instant ramen
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
- 50 grams thinly sliced pork (you can always add more for a meatier noodle soup)
- 1 small handful spinach leaves
- 1 teaspoon miso paste
- ogonori or your preferred seaweed, rehydrated in hot water (optional but recommended)
Video
Instructions
- Boil a cup and a half of water in a small sauce pan.
- Drop in the noodles and cook for about four minutes.
- While the noodles cook, in a small frying pan, heat the sesame seed oil.
- Cook the pork in the hot oil, stirring to separate the thin slices.
- Tear off the packet of seasoning that came with the noodles, and sprinkle half of the contents on the pork.
- Dump the pork and spinach leaves into the sauce pan with the noodles, and allow everything to simmer until the spinach leaves are wilted.
- Take a quarter cup of the liquid from the sauce pan, pour into a small bowl and stir in the miso paste until dissolved.
- Pour the diluted miso paste into the sauce pan and stir.
- Taste the broth. If bland, sprinkle in some (or all) of the remaining instant ramen seasoning.
- Stir in the rehydrated seaweed and serve.
