Happiness is a Cupboard Full of Ramen Noodles

Having a cupboard full of instant ramen makes me happy.  It isn't really about having the noodles, but the potential that comes from having the variety available.  It's kind of like having some fresh bread, and many kinds of sandwich toppings available to make a kick-butt kind of sandwich.  I don't have ramen every day, but I will have it two or three times a week for lunch.  I keep Chinese choy, roast pork, leftover roast chicken or fried chicken, ham, SPAM, frozen Korean fish balls, green onions, eggs, and frozen beans/carrots around to make a bowl of tasty, savoury noodles.  I kind of wish I could get roast pork / char siu more easily to freeze and add to ramen, but you make do.  So here are some pictures of various bowls of ramen along with their package of noodles that I took over the last six weeks or so.

Cupboard full of ramen.  Better than a fistful of dollars or maybe not.

Nissin This is absolutely delicious! Tonkotsu Soy Sauce Ramen

This is a well flavoured, soy sauce / pork bone ramen with dried, not fried noodles.  I'm not sure if this is limited run, or a regular new product, but there were three varieties under this product brand.  The soup base came with a powdered soup base and a pouch of flavour oil that gave it good aroma and richness.

I had it with a piece of left over fried chicken, Shanghai bok choy, and boiled egg.

Nongshim K-Army Ramen

This ramen is always a crowd-pleaser.  The soup has richness, spicyness, a hint of smoke, and dried chili beans.  I like it with a variety of toppings.  It goes with wieners, SPAM, ham, fish balls, etc.  It is more versatile than many of the Japanese noodles with its more spicy base, but I like many kinds of flavours and heat is not always what I want.  Not overly spicy, but not mild either.

K-ARMY with assorted fish balls, bok choy.  Always a tasty combo.

Jin Ramen VEGGIE Flavour

This is a relatively new addition to the shelves at H-MART.  I like the Jin Ramen mild flavour quite a bit and I'm always interesting in seeing a mildly spicy Korean ramen.  This veggie / vegan ramen has pretty good flavour with the soy / vegetable stock base with a very mild heat.  Quite nice and it come with a big packet of dried vegetables which is a bonus.

Not a vegetarian ramen after I made it with SPAM and choy, and frozen beans and carrots.

Nissin Hong Kong Black Garlic Oil Tonkotsu Flavour

This one is a very flavourful ramen that builds on a nice tonkotsu soup base with black garlic oil.  It comes with a powdered soup base and a satchet of a black garlic oil/paste that give a nice richness and depth to the soup.  Quite good and a nice variation of their regular tonkotsu.

Just had this with SPAM and diced choy.

I also had it with lots of green onions and char siu.  Quite nice this way too.

Nissin Japan Chikin Ramen

This is the first instant ramen ever made in the world back in the 1950s.  It is a classic and I always like to keep a few packages around.  The seasoning is actually rolled onto the surface of the noodles and anyone who has ever had it can recognize the savoury, slighty smoky aroma of this noodle soup when it is being made.  Goes great with egg, roast chicken, green onions.

I had this with a egg half boiled in the soup with lots of well diced green onions.  I quite enjoyed this.

Marutai Oita Chicken Soy Ramen with Yuzu Ramen 

The Marutai stick ramen packages have some very good tonkotsu and other flavoured soup bases.  Some are powdered, other have powder and liquid soup satchets.  This one has a very nice liquid soup base that gives it a nice chicken flavour.  I haven't seen any Marutai at the markets for a few months now, and this was the last of the packages I had on hand.  It didn't disappoint.  I have reviewed a whole pile of Marutai Ramen in this post.

I had this ramen with roast pork and bok choy.  Very yummy and it even had some yuzu powder to give it a hint of citrus.

That's all, so enjoy making your own ramen soup at home!

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