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How do you spice up your instant raman noodles

Jake, be happy about that!
 
I like the Oriental flavor ramen....first I add the spice packet and 4-5 dried and crumbled thai peppers.....Add noodles when starting to boil.....then when its boiling rapidly, I add an egg and stir it up quicky to make it like egg flower soup.
 
Interesting thread. I will have to see about making my own spice mix for ramen. won't be low sodium by the way (love my salt . . .).

Oh, and I always prepped my ramen by boiling the noodles, straining off most (save a half tsp or so) the liquid, then tossing the spice packet with the noodles. Made the flavor more intense (Chile flavor, the only flavor (Top or Maruchan) that I liked).
 
You wanted to throw away the ramen packets and make your own!
Based on this thread I had a contest with my wife. I went through the refrigerator and garden. All the plants listed were sliced, dehrydrated and ground in the mortar and pestle to a fine powder. The rules were
1. you can use bullion
2. you can use oil
3. you can use any powder or spice.
The results were fabulous. My wife won but you will see she also cheated.
Her recipe first.

1 squirt of oil
1 squirt of soy sauce
1 squirt of vinegar (we use squirt bottles)
1 pinch of bullion (chicken)
1/8 tsp of chives
1/8 tsp of green onion
1/8 tsp of yellow bell
1 pinch of dried chinese pepper
1/16 of ginger
1/3 cup of water.

She boiled it and it was the best "ramen" soup base I have ever had. I think fresh dried and ground makes difference. She took some noodles with egg and tomato mixed it together with bok choi and hot oil and dried peppers. I didn't taste that mix but it clearly disqualifies her. Not to mention the use of soy and vinegar

My recipe:
1 squirt of oil used to toast 3/8 tsp onion and 1/4 pasilla pepper powder.
2 cups of water
2 tsp of bullion
1/4 tsp of orange bell
1/8 tsp carot
1/2 tsp onion
1/4 tsp celery
1 pinch of ginger
boil add noodles
Pour into a bowl add 1/2tsp chive 1/4tsp green onion and stir. Voila'

Both created better soup base than anything I had ever had.
 
Add some broccoli, diced chicken and a tsp of a milder pepper powder like cayenne or 1/8-1/4 tsp of ghost or scorpion. Cook it all together in a bowl in the microwave for 6 minutes. I call it lunch.
 
I like to boil the noodles, then drain them, melt butter in a teflon frying pan, add 1/2 the packet, then stir-fry the noodles.
 
Yummy!!!
 
Goes great with pan-fried SPAM if you like that sort of thing.
 
I like to use fresh herbs, Thai basil and or lemon / lime basil, cilantro, ginger, garlic, onion, dash of  lime and or lemon juice, soy sauce, fish sauce, bean sprouts , chopped tomato and slices of my favorite hot pepper and no MSG low sodium Chicken or beef broth to cook them in, during the winter I use dried lemon and lime basil along garlic, dried onion pieces, fresh ginger or ginger powder, salt, homemade pepper powder, mixed sprouts, fish sauce or chicken or beef broth, black pepper, sun dried tomatoes, fresh or dried mushrooms, cilantro, soy sauce. The powder in the packets is mainly animal fat, salt, MSG and some seasonings, and lots of calories from the fat, which adds up if you eat a lot of them.
My Grand daughters like to bust the noodles up in a bowl and sprinkle the seasoning on them, then munch them down I would rather spend a few minutes and make mine cooked.
 
I don't know how they make MSG now, probably more with chemicals in a lab now, but when it was first made it came from sun ripened oily salted fish that was pressed till all the juices were squeezed out.
It was put on anything that didn't have much flavor on its own or was stale so that it would be eaten up. Very much like a fish sauce only a bit more rank, I can only imagine how it smelled. My herbs and fresh veggies don't need to be enhanced by msg as it has its own staying power. Any meat used has enough fat in it already for add flavoring, the only time I add fish, soy and or oyster sauce is when I'm low on other stuff, Today I get to mow the lawn and work in the Garden so I will be worn out I had my second treatment of chemo the other day so I'm still feeling a little sick from it, So a veggie herb rich bowl of shrimp flavored bowl of Ramon will hit the spot so long as I keep the veggies and herbs finely chopped, next time I go and see my doctor next month I want to try and find a Asian market and buy me a bag of dried little fish and a bag of shredded cuttle fish since I can't have any really hot and spicy whole foods I have to buy the plain shredded cuttle fish and not the chili flavored stuff.
 
I've not read this whole thread, but I figured I'd jump in.  I (generally) don't like the packet due to the MSG content. As I understand things there is growing evidence that sodium isn't all that bad for you (kinda like the bad rap eggs took).  What I usually do is add some plain old salt and pepper, a dash of garlic powder, a dash of onion powder, and then some dehydrated pepper powder.  Mine varies in heat content depending on what I recently harvested and dehydrated, so I tend to sample it first, but generally between 1/2 and one teaspoon.  I add all this to the water before heating.   
 
I admit, if I'm feeling lazy or I'm in a hurry, I'll use the packet and add some heat.  I've never tried bullion, but I think it has MSG in it too.
 
And yes, I too eat way too many packs of ramen noodles.  I'm convinced I could live on ramen noodles and bologna sandwiches if need be... as long as I can add some heat.
 
Harold
 
I eat ramen noodles all the time and spice them up! either I use the seasoning packet and just add some home made piquin powder, or I use no seasoning packet and mix these powders together piquin, garlic, onion, a dash of pepper and cilantro in it and mix it with soy sauce it taste good to me. try it out and let me know if you like it and along with this I tend to add tapatio to it too.
 
Hmm perhaps I should chime in. Powdered MSG is nothing more than a lab synthesized version of a naturally occurring flavor, now commonly referred to as Umami; the only difference being that your brain can't regulate levels of additive MSG like it can Umami.

Umami/MSG for the longest time in Japan was created by boiling and simmering dried kelp and Bonito flakes. This was a time consuming process, and thus the idea of synthesizing MSG came about.

While not inherently bad for you, some people are sensitive to it. That's why you get the reports that is bad for you. Asian food usually contains quite a bit of MSG, both natural and additive. You don't see us Asians dropping dropping dead from its use ;-)

Whew with that out of the way, the instant ramen avaliable in the US is garbage.
 
this may sound over simple.....but I like to use a little butter, and the tomato jelly squeezed from fresh tomato add a little salt, and saute shrimp and mushrooms add it to a bowl of the ramen (no broth) and don't forget the crushed chile's :onfire:
 
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