Slightly Bemused writes:
How do you know when your instant noodles are ready to eat?
This is not intended to be a trick question. For something seemingly simple, it actually is not. For example, are we talking about the type that come with their own handy cup, or the variety that needs to be boiled in a saucepan? And do you wait until the water there has boiled before you go for your two minutes, or start from scratch?
If you use the extra vegetable sachet, with its four peas, six kernels of corn (yep, I counted once. I was bored), and some bits that may once have dreamed of being carrots, wait until they are no longer crunchy, but have gone squishy. Your noodles might be ready then, and if you avoid the dubious orange bits, perhaps even palatable.
The stalwart of many a student diet over the years, instant noodles will, demonstrably, keep you alive.
My preference is the packet variety, especially when I remember to bring food bags. I do not always eat the whole pack, so I may want to save the rest (still dry) until tomorrow. If all you have to eat are the noodles, a whole pack may be what you need, but if you can snarf an egg, find some scallions, maybe some bamboo shoots from a tin in a weird and wonderful little shop, well, you just may have a delight of dinner!
Always bring some stock cubes, though. Usually better than the ‘flavour pack’
The biggest problem, though, can be the boiling water. Did you know that water at high altitude boils at a lower temperature? So if you are sitting atop the world in the Himalayas, your two minutes may take a bit longer to get your noodles ready.
In a number of places I have travelled, noodles were the lunch of simplicity. They won’t spoil, and you can carry them pretty much anywhere. But hot water was an occasional problem. The best solution I ever had was a very simple, down and dirty vacuum flask. With a big cork bung, it was better than the high tech ones my colleagues had. It also served to provide hot enough water at about mid afternoon for something close to a decent cup of tea. And lunch, in the oversized aluminium cup, did take a bit more than two minutes. But the veggies were not crunchy, and the view was occasionally spectacular!
In our vehicle, too, there was a way of wedging the flask behind the passenger seat against the back one. It did not move, and was there when we needed it. In the same car I also once figured out that you could lodge seven 500ml cans across the front dash, and in the summer, that meant if you turned the aircon on but set the blower to demist, by the time you got home you had cold beer.
And enjoy it over a bowl of instant noodles!
Slightly Bemused‘s column appears here every Wednesday.
Pic via Wikipedia
love it,
guilty pleasure is a noodle sandwich,
mad how food always tastes so so much better outside.
I’ve eaten some awful looking stuff in my time that turned out to be amazing; but that just sounds… wrong… Is there a trick to it, or do you just drain the noodles and plop them onto bread?
it’s got to be the most unhealthy thing I eat but Iove it, no need to drain noodles they are cooked for minimal time in the least water possible so still a lot of bite, the bread has to be covered in a really good salted butter…..yum ( sometimes I add a slice of ham or a rasher, lived off that as a student , that and caffreys, except Sunday when I’d have spuds and a steak, cheddar cheese and wine lol ) thank god for the canteen in college or I wouldn’t be here to type this now !
I think I need a few pints before the idea of a noodle sandwich looks like a good idea. Spaghetti Bolognese toastie is good though.
I can see that :)
Haven’t spent nearly as much time in inhospitable places as you clearly have Slightly, but I also have ‘fond’ memories of instant noodles in strange places. We’d often be 10 days on the road with patchy access to food and would have a big plastic crate filled with Nissin or Mama noodle packets. At least one meal a day would usually be noodles, some days wet and others dry and with or without egg; I developed a particular dislike for scrambled egg in noodles with soup, but do like a boiled egg in noodles. I didn’t touch the things again for the best part of 20 years, but have recently rediscovered them, and some of them are really great, although how much of that is nostalgia I’m not quite sure. Indeed I’d forgotten until you mentioned it that we also used to have vast amounts of bottled water with us, much of which went into noodle-cooking.
the weirdest way I had them was in Nepal, the cook put in cucumber…cooked, everyone knows that’s only good for cucumber sandwiches ;)
The only place a cucumber has any business in being is a mojito.
It’s nice in a gin and tonic as well, but otherwise agree.
Lovely piece.
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I have been convertered to the Korean equivalent ‘Shin Ramyun’, well worth investigating. Spicy!
Not tried that: that Binging with Babish chap on youtube has a video about making the spicy noodles from Parasite. Worth having a look at. Basically two different types of korean packet noodles with expensive steak on top, which sounds kinda perfect really.
Uh oh!
https://www.newsweek.com/ramen-noodles-spill-truck-crash-lake-arkansas-1609526?fbclid=IwAR2USyTayp_vIIiZdlfojvto6GJuD44sCUlEC2Ihw-s5lvk_otxHAao35c8
I must admit I never tried a noodle sandwich, but I do occasionally enjoy noodles on toast.
I am with Janet on this: lashings of good butter, and it is surprising how few places do it salted. Curry noodles on top, and a fried egg over easy. I must admit I do like a sprinkle of lemon pepper, but I have not been able to find that here. Aromat is not the same, and besides I keep remembering the scorn of a Swiss lady when I ever even mentioned it.
Scrambled eggs have a place, and with noodles is not that.