Japanese Ramen

One of my very favorite foods is RAMEN!!

I buy my ramen from oriental stores, which comes as "nama" noodles, which are noodles that aren't DRIED up like you'd buy at your local grocery store.

Ramen's a huge staple food in Japan. Really, noodles are.

Ramen comes from China. did you know that?

If you go anywhere in Japan, you'll see little stands to large chains of ramen restaurants filled with people. Steaming HOT noodles are pulled out of the big pot of boiling water and tossed into a big brothy bowl of soup, then topped with colorful vegetables and thinly sliced meat.

OH. Heaven.

However you buy ramen here in America though, RULE NUMBER ONE FOR MAKING RAMEN.

always put some type of meat in there, along with lots of variety of vegetables!!

It's about the colors and presentation in Asia!

corn, egg, bamboo shoots, asparagus, thinly sliced green onions (scallions), thinly sliced carrots, cabbage, maybe some chicken or steak, turkey left over, ham, whatever you've got on hand, use it! I always use left over meats and veggies in my ramen!

In the picture above, I chucked in some salmon, asparagus, bean sprout, half an egg, and some bamboo shoots and lots of pepper!!! (i love spicy!) They were all leftovers from some other meals I had on hand at the time.

Also--NEVER OVERCOOK THE NOODLES!! NEVER!! :)

And now you've got yourself a very authentic bowl of ramen!