How to make your instant ramen a little less boring

I just realized it's already May, so I need to fulfill at least posting one rune a month. Granted, there's plenty of time to finish a WIP or stumble upon a subject worth writing about... But this just popped in my head earlier when fixing lunch.

So, ramen. We all know what it is. But I'm going to pretend you're stupid and explain to you. It's a noodle dish generally known as a Japanese food, but also has its roots in China. Today I learned that ramen was borrowed from lamian meaning pulled noodles, but has evolved since then. But this isn't about the restaurant-quality kind you see on the Wikipedia page... This is about instant ramen. Lamian originated in the early 20th century, but instant ramen launched in 1958. 1971 is when the iconic Cup Noodles that you've likely seen in real life often was introduced.

Instant ramen kind of has a reputation of being cheap and bottom of the barrel. I'm not even going to argue with that. It's cheap, it's easy, the healthiness is debatable but leaning on not very much. That sodium... Unfortunately, I always liked ramen, and I don't mean the fancy kind in restaurants. I've had it, and it's legions better than instant ramen. But alas, it's expensive... Instant ramen more of a low-end "treat" food or emergency during cheap weeks, before the next paycheck comes in. I don't recommend eating it often, but shit happens and sometimes it's all you got.

The reasons why are a long story, but in 2018 I became vegan (later vegetarian) and had to learn to cook for myself for awhile. Cooking isn't always that complicated for me, it wasn't that hard to throw things in a pan and see what happens. I stopped being a picky eater because I had to eat what I cooked even if it flopped... Ramen was the "test" food I tried cooking techniques on, since it was cheap and I could experiment with things in my cabinent or fridge. It's my favorite cheap food to experiment with, since I often don't have enough resources to fuck around with something more complex. If push comes to shove, I could make something more complex with instructions, but I see cooking as just a necessity than a passion.

Side note, but if you're curious: Just because a flavor of instant ramen isn't meat, that doesn't mean it's vegan. Some brand's noodles are made from egg, and the flavor packets for non-meat flavors can contain beef extract. I'm assuming this is common knowledge, but this distinction matters because vegetarians don't eat meat, but vegans avoid any animal product, period. Speaking from experience, accidentally eating animal products when I haven't for over a year has literally made me sick. Vegan brands exist, off the top of my head I've tried Nongshim Soon Veggie Noodle and Volcano Chicken (the chicken flavoring is artificial), but it's slightly more expensive than Maruchan. My go-to for vegan ramen was Nissin Top Ramen's soy sauce and chili flavors. I'm not vegan or vegetarian anymore, so this isn't an issue for me. I just thought I'd share some information stuck in my head.

Shut up and get to the point!

Hey smartass, this is FILLER for a reason. I have to make this longer than a few paragraphs! Anyway, this is with the kind of instant ramen you cook over the stove in mind, but the rare times I had Cup Noodle at home I dumped the contents into a pot to do the same. I also can't really say if my way is any healthier or not... The emphasis is "less boring", not healthy. You know, for cheap week.

My favorite common kitchen add-ons to put in instant ramen:

• Peanut butter. I'm serious! My family thought I was crazy or it sounds gross, but it's such a game changer. Peanuts and peanut oil is often used in noodle dishes, so I don't see this as any different. I don't even taste it, but there's a noticable difference in the broth. Ramen without peanut butter is like an angel without wings. I'm joking, but I believe this now.
• Optional, but I like chili paste. You can probably make it yourself, but during the pandemic I tried Gochujang's chili paste and I love it. I have a pretty high spice tolerance though, so skip that if you're a baby and can't handle that.
• A bit of milk in the broth. I used almond milk when I was vegan because I hate it and need to use it for something, but I don't recommend using soy milk unless you want your ramen to be weirdly sweet.
• The instructions usually say 2 cups of water, but I add vegetable or beef broth mixed in said cups. I hate chicken broth (too much will ruin it), but that's an option too.
• Soy sauce. It's obvious but I might as well mention. Just a few drops from a bottle or a packet if you stash any from restaurants.
• Random spices in the cabinent. I tend to default to chili, curry, onion, garlic, or Mrs. Dash. If you hate any one of these, you can skip it. I avoid salt. Side note, but giving up meat for years was easy when I realized meat is nothing without spices. Cooking vegetables like meat tided me over.
• Frozen vegetables are also what I default to alongside everything else. I tend to go for mushroom, carrots, broccoli or cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc. But if there's something you like, you can throw it in.
• You can put meat or seafood in, but I've never done this. I will say that one of my fuck-ups when experimenting was putting canned fish or oysters in this. Not only does it stink, but the mid-tier fishy (or oyster) flavor ends up overpowering everything else. Yuck.
• An egg. Personally I put an egg in at the very end when everything is cooked, and I have it cook long enough that it's white but the yolk is still intact. I know the yolk part is apparently not great for you, but exploded yolk mixed in with everything else is amazing. If you hate runny yolk, you can let it cook all the way. I've also put liquid egg in here and it's not the same, but works okay but you have to keep an eye on it. You can also cook an egg separately and try to make homemeade egg-drop, but I've never tried it.

And there you have it, this is what I do when I fix ramen nowadays. I should probably be more outside-the-box with cooking, but this works for me and I think it's pretty decent. If I try more things that work (or don't), I'll update this. But until then here's some unsolicited tips I've learned over the years. You can also try to imitate your favorite brands by buying and using the same ingredients.