🍜 What Makes This Recipe So Good
This easy spicy ramen recipe takes those cheap store-bought packets of dried ramen and turns them into a total restaurant-style meal. Rich broth, jammy soft-boiled eggs, and umami seasonings make this the perfect Japanese comfort food. This recipe uses traditional Asian ingredients, like miso paste, nori, sambal oelek, and togarashi for an authentic taste. Though they sound fancy, most of these ingredients are easy to find at your local grocery or online. Maybe best of all, this spicy ramen comes together in less than 20 minutes! Perfect for a lunch or dinner when you don’t have a ton of time and don’t want to do a lot of actual cooking, but want something tasty and satisfying.
🍲 About the Ingredients
Miso paste is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It’s made from fermented soybeans, salt, and kōji, which is a mold used in making soy sauce, sake, and other foods. Sambal oelek is an Indonesian chili sauce or paste that frequently contains other ingredients such as ginger, rice vinegar, garlic, and lime juice. It adds the perfect kick to your ramen, and is easy to find in stores or to make your own. Nori means “sea vegetable” in Japanese and is edible seaweed. It’s usually sold in sheets. If you’re a fan of sushi, you’ve definitely tasted nori before. Shichimi togarashi is a seasoning blend made from 7 spices, usually red chili peppers, Japanese peppers, orange peel, sesame seeds, ginger, nori, and other seeds. If you can’t find any, you can use just black sesame seeds instead, although shichimi togarashi is typically available for pretty cheap online.
👩🏼‍🍳 Chef’s Tips
Take your spicy ramen to the next level by adding chicken, pork, or even tofu for an extra boost of protein. You can actually make this spicy ramen without ramen noodles. Any thin noodle, even gluten-free noodles, will work. Shiritaki noodles and palmini are good options, too! Use low-sodium versions of any ingredient you can or you might find this dish way too salty. If you can’t find or don’t have sambal oelek, you can use Gochujang, chili-garlic sauce, red chili flakes, or sriracha. Sriracha will be a little sweeter, though, and may throw off the overall flavor of the dish.
🥟 More Delicious Asian-Inspired Recipes
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