The last few days in Vancouver have been freezing and despite my best efforts to pull out sweaters, slippers and other artifacts from my closet, I can’t seem to warm up!! Even the worlds best cuppa ain’t gonna warm me up.  The only thing that is going to cure this case of BRRRRR is some good ole Ramen noodles.

Confession:  I flippin’ love Ramen noodles.  Man, it brings me back to college when my roomie and I used to get super stoked when the parentals would take us to Costco and buy us a case of Ramen noodles!!!  They are quick and easy and I absolutely love slurpin’ those noodles and not giving a rats ass what anyone thinks.  Over the years when i am super lazy, I would boil some water and open up a package of ramen noodles and maybe add a few vegetables to it but then I found out how bad those little flavour packages are for you.  Oh man…they are loaded with MSG and tonnes of salt.  I felt completely destroyed that this simple meal was completely awful and I stopped eating them all together.  Since that day, I have always felt like a bit of comfort food was missing from my life.

One day I decided to recreate my own version of simple simple ramen noodles minus those evil flavour packages.  I am pretty happy with this version and actually think it has all of the flavours you want in ramen without all of the saltiness.  Today i’m going to share this with all of you, my moody little compadres.

Since I still have TONNES of turkey leftovers from the holidays, I am going to add some turkey to this and make a delicious ramen noodle soup with lots of veggies and try to use up some of that gobble gobble.  I often make this soup vegetarian by using veggie stock and not adding any meat to it.

First thing you want to do is, heat up your oil in a large pot over medium heat (not too high).  Once hot, add your minced garlic and ginger and stir around for about 1 minute to cook…just be careful not to burn it.

mmmm garlic and ginger. Does anything smell better??

Next add your broth (chicken or veggie), broccoli, mushrooms, low sodium soy sauce, sriracha, ground pepper, cooked turkey (if adding it) and 2-3 cups of water (depending on how many people you are making this for).  I tend to like my ramen on the less soupy side so I used 3 cups of water to cook 5 noodle packages and it was perfect.  If you like yours with more ‘broth’ then definitely add more water or less noodles.

Bring this beauty to a boil and let those delicious flavours get acquainted

Bring this mixture to a boil.  Once you have a good boil going on, reduce the heat to medium and let it simmer for about 8 minutes until your veggies are cooked.  Now stir in your noodles.  I buy those big packages of thin chinese egg noodles at my local asian supermarket.  I use them in noodle stir fry, ramen and sometimes I even crush them up and put them in a pot of chicken noodle soup.  They are pretty universal and super cheap.

Big pack o noodles

these are what the little bundles look like inside the package.

I typically put about 5 or 6 bundles of these noodles in to this pot of soup.  They only take a few minutes to cook and then they are perfectly soft.  Next stir in your grated carrot, spinach and green onion.  When the spinach is wilted, your soup is ready.

Veggies…meet noodles!

Look at this bad boy, all the beauty and comfort of ramen noodles with delicious flavour and extra veggies!!  Who just made quick and easy ramen noodles with no guilty packages of salt???  You did… you little Ramen boss!!

This is definitely a pot of coziness wouldn’t you say??

Look at those glorious noodles?? I promise there is a bit of broth underneath there!! (I save the slurping until the end)

Simpleton Ramen Noodles minus the flavour packets!!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 Tbsp of ginger minced
• 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp of reduced sodium soy sauce or Maggi
• 1 Carton of reduced sodium chicken or veggie stock (or about 4 cups)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sriracha
• 2 Carrots grated
• 3 cups of fresh spinach leaves
• 2 green onions chopped fine
• 5 mushrooms sliced
• 1 cup of broccoli florets
• 5-6 bundles of thin chinese egg noodles

Directions

1. Heat up oil in a large pot to medium heat.  Then add your minced garlic and ginger and stir for about a minute or so to cook them.  Be careful they don’t burn.
2. Add broth, broccoli, mushrooms, soy sauce, sriracha, cooked turkey (if using), water and ground black pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium and let it simmer for about 8-10 minutes or until the veggies are cooked to your liking.
3. Stir in the noodles and let them cook until soft, probably about 2-3 minutes
4. Stir in your remaining veggies: grated carrot, spinach leaves and green onion.  When the spinach is wilted, it’s ready!!

Hope you enjoy this bowl of comfort!!  I am definitely warmed up and feel all nice and cozy now that i’ve had my ramen fix!! Take that flavour packages…this ramen kicked your salty butt MEGA BIG TIME!!!  Hope you fine people enjoy this!!  Slurp away…you know you wanna!!!