Ramen for Grownups

Hi. My name is Lisala. I used to be a grad student.

Did you know you can buy Ramen by the case at Sams, Costco, or Overstock.com? You can—at less than a quarter a package. Plus, if you watch the sale papers at your local super market, you can get ten for a dollar. My colleague has already written an ode in praise of Ramen as the simple but filling all purpose meal. Now, I'm going to tell you one of the most sacred secrets of graduate student survival: Ramen For Grownups.

When I began grad school, it meant moving from rural New England to urban Southern California. My aunt took me shopping at Costco. "Here," she said, putting a case of Ramen in my cart. "You're poor now." I'd never had Ramen before. I knew Mac n' Cheese, in the brand name and generic versions, but I made my own for less. I went home and tried the Ramen; all six flavors of it. I realized some were more palatable than others (for me, chicken and pork were preferable, shrimp my least favorite; your mileage may very). I then started experimenting.

There are two key steps to doctoring Ramen. First, ingredients that you add to the boiling water you cook the noodles in, second, ingredients you add to the cooked noodles. Now, there are three crucial elements to what I consider "graduate student cooking."

Ingredients must be very inexpensive and easy to obtain.

Ideally, there should be enough for at least two meals.

Minimizing the time spent on prep and clean up is key.

For instance, select enough vegetables to make roughly three cups after sauteing from the following list:

Two packages of Ramen

2 carrots (or a handful of small ones)

1 onion

Garlic (to taste)

Green beans (frozen or fresh)

Zuchinni (chop into pieces roughly match-stick sized)

Fresh Mushrooms

Frozen chopped spinach, kale or other greens (score the frozen cube with a knife, use what you want, and put the rest back in the freezer; or, take out what you want from a bag, and put the rest back).

Frozen peas

Frozen corn

Add your choice of vegetables to some olive oil, and saute them while the water is heating for the Ramen, per the instructions on the package. Stir them, and watch the heat; you don't want to overcook them. Season them with salt, pepper, chile, soy sauce, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, or whatever you prefer.

Want some meat? Add about twelve ounces of canned chicken, salmon, or water-packed tuna (drain the salmon or tuna, and break it up into chunks) in the last minute or so to the sauteing vegetables.

Drain the Ramen. Add the seasoning packages as instructed, then add your vegetables to the steaming noodles, and stir.

Serve. Add seasonings to taste (Soy sauce, pepper, chile sauce, Mrs. Dash, Tabasco?). Save the leftovers for tomorrow.

If you're really in a hurry, try adding a handful of frozen veggies, (mixed is fine, but I like adding chopped spinach) to the water after the noodles, as soon as the water is boiling again. Other alternatives are the dried seaweed or bonita flakes used to make miso. Don't forget leftover pork, ham or beef, even sliced deli style meat—all work fine as ramen enhancers. You don't need much. A few ounces added to the noodles a minute or two before you pour the water off makes a huge difference.

Alternately, you can drain the noodles, and toss them into the hot skillet before the veggies are quite finished, and saute the noodles, too. A splash or two of chile or sesame oil goes a long way towards making this into a mean that tastes like something more than just, well, ramen noodles. Even freshly chopped green onions, or a little grated fresh ginger can make a huge difference.

Not into sauteing? Too messy and time-consuming? No worries. Fresh veggies can be nuked, if need be. Better yet, a bag of frozen peas, spinach, or mixed veggies can be added at serving at a time, and won't turn into the gray-green mulch that growls and waves menacingly at you from the veggie crisper whenever you open the fridge door.

Eventually, you'll probably get bored with the seasoning packet that comes with Ramen. Good. Ditch it. That "seasoning" is mostly salt, more salt, MSG, and salt. You can season your ramen yourself, easily, with a little salt, and some of the other options you've already seen mentioned. I discovered that on a hot summer day, I could cook and drain the noodles, add just a touch of olive oil, stir them, add chopped fresh tomatoes, chopped fresh basil, chopped sweet onion, a dash of salt, a dash of pepper, maybe some black olives, stir them all into the noodles, and refrigerate them for a lovely cool summer salad.

Now, granted, this can get boring too, so here are some actual recipes, none of which require a lot of time, effort, money or skill:

The Official Top Ramen Site Entree Recipes and Ramen Soup recipes. And over here are some
Budget Ramen Recipes And if your soul is still hungry for something more, here's Weird Al on Ramen.