Ah childhood…scraped knees, cartoons, blowing bubbles in your milk, video games…wait, nothings changed!

For this week’s theme, I decided to do something that truly reminded me of my childhood (and some of my college days): Ramen noodles!

Back home, my mother was more on healthier side when she made us meals when me and my sister were younger. I remember always going to my friends’ homes to enjoy a soda or some chips. That’s not to say we didn’t get to eat junk food or instant meals, they were just few and far in-between. But one of my childhood meals that I’ve always loved was instant noodles! To be more exact, Shin Ramyun. We always had 1 or 2 packs in the cabinet. My mom would always make a pack for me (for breakfast of all meals!) when she knew I had a big day ahead of me at school. Be it a big test, a presentation, or if she just knew I could really use a good start to my day. Thanks Mom!

Now my mom didn’t just make a plain pack of instant ramen, she would add other things (some featured above) to make it so much better. That habit stuck with me to my college days, and now I don’t make ramen without an egg at least. Try it if you haven’t, it’ll change your life! Everyone I tell about the egg loves it so far.

For this week, I decided to fancy it up a bit and not actually use the instant pack. I did have to get a package of dried plain noodles, cause I could not find any of the fresh noodles. I put together my own little seasoning mix and added it to water to create the broth. Then added in some fresh shitake mushrooms, boy choy, scallions. Popped in an egg near the end. Then set it all up in the bowl and topped it with some braised pork belly, enoki mushrooms, dried seaweed, and cucumbers (replaced the carrots at the request of the roomie). I will say the broth my itself was a lot spicier than I though, but it got much better after I added in all the other things. This turned out much better than I thought it would!

Ingredients

1 package ramen noodles

4 cups water

1/4 cup carrots (cubed or diced)

1/4 cup dried seaweed (shredded)

1/4 cup shitake mushrooms (sliced)

1 tsp scallions (chopped)

1 lb pork belly

1 batch Spinach or Bok Choy

1 egg

Almost anything you want really!

For Seasoning (Sorry I kinda eyeballed mine, I wish I kept track of how much I used)

white pepper

black pepper

cayenne pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

sugar

msg (just a little!)

soy sauce

sesame oil

Instructions

Cook the pork belly and slice it when it is done. (I just braised them) Start heating up water and add seasoning mix to broth. (I also added a little bit of the braising liquid to the broth) Prepare the noodles as instructed in the broth. Add in the carrots and mushrooms as the noodles are cooking. (Swapped out cucumbers for carrots, so just added the cucumbers at the end) Add in the egg (try not to stir the pot too much at first, so the egg remains whole). Add spinach (or bok choy) towards the end. Takes noodles out when ready, pour broth into bowl to cover most of the noodles. Don’t forget to get that egg out! Add slices of pork, shredded seaweed, and scallions.