My love of instant noodles
2019-09-26 Comments
Take them or leave them - I personally love them - they are cheap, tasty and easy to make, not to mention they're versatile too. Mmmmm, instant noodles! That's why so many students eat them. Some working professionals have them as a fall back. They are so quick and easy to adapt, so you're not just settling for the instant noodles themselves. I don't include a certain cup noodle, but if you have to I'd go for an Asian brand, they know their noodles.
Call me greedy but even when I have a 100g packet of instant noodle, I find one is never enough (unless teemed with lots of trimmings). It's because I don't drink the "soup". Many people consume it as a whole meal, slurping down the stock after fishing out all the noodles. I would only finish the bowl in a restaurant, because they make the soup from scratch with fresh ingredients. I regard the soup powder packet as more of a flavouring for the noodles, otherwise it's like drinking salty water.
Here's a tale about the time where instant noodles weren't so much favoured. I used to work in IT support and typically, we were situated in the basement. The data room was behind us and just a little side story to keep you amused: One summer, when it was particularly hot and the air conditioning broke down, our boss installed some portable aircon units in the data room. And you know what? The bloody exhaust pipes came out behind where we sat. The hot air was churning out and I got sweaty hands and feet from the rise in temperature. Even in sandals, my feet were getting their own private sauna, they were dripping and swollen by the end of the day. It took a few of us to convince my colleague, who sat beside me, not to strip down to his underpants. Mind you, he could have dived into my pools of feet sweat. As a bribe for us to not complain, my boss went out to buy us an ice cream cone each. His thinking was "never mind the humans sweltering in the heat" (both from the weather and the aircon unit outlet) "as long as the electronic equipment was cool and running well, then all else is OK". Huh! Anyways, back on track with the cup noodles.
Besides us, the data room and store cupboard, the kitchen was also put in the basement. One day my boss could smell smoke or burning and got us to check all round the servers, UPS and cables. Everyone spent a good 10 minutes trying to locate if there was a small fire or short. One of the guys Dan from upstairs, who was hanging around the kitchen came to help when he heard the commotion. We spent a further 10 minutes sniffing around the basement. In the meantime, since the minions were searching, my boss went to get himself a drink before proceeding. He honed in on the smell and lo and behold it turned out to be Dan's cup noodles. Let's just say that he never lived it down after that. He was so embarrassed that he never ate another cup noodle in his life.
As I mentioned previously, the packet noodles are quick to make and are very versitile in accepting other foods to make a decent meal. Like the Japanese ramen, you can add many elements to zhoosh up the bowl. You can add veggies, a fried egg or in keeping with ramen, fish sticks and nori.
I've even had them whilst camping. A few years back a group of friends and I travelled to France to spend a week visiting several châteaux and Mont-Saint Michel. There were five of us, and one of the guys had bought a cheap people carrier especially for the trip, looking to run it down. Luckily, it made it through the trip and got us safely home. As a back-up foodwise, someone had decided to pack about 20 instant packet noodles. It was about the second night when we broke into them, since we couldn't locate a local supermarket. The person who brought along the noodles came prepared and packed a very large cooking pot too. We all stood around the boiling water breaking the noodles into them, then we spent another 5 minutes ripping open the seasoning packets before throwing the contents onto the noodles. We cooked up half our supply in that one go. That was a nice and satisfying meal, happy days!
Weird fact about instant noodles, I've recently learned. With the cutbacks in US prison food budgets and how appalling the canteen food is, packet noodles are now overtaking tobacco as currency. Inmates hold them in such high regard because they can easily make them in their cells with just a kettle. Plus, the flavouring hits the right spot on the taste buds. Who can blame them, they are delicious!
A precautionary note; as with all tasty things, instant noodles should be consumed sparingly. Spread noodle meals out with proper food.
Without further ado, you can find my recipe ideas for instant noodles in this page.