Okay, hear me out.
Imagine that you have just come home after a long shift at the strip club–and I mean looong. Like 9 PM to 6 AM long. It is now between 7 AM and 8 AM, because you had to take public transit home and also take the compulsory post-shift shower. You are slightly tipsy from a bit too much champagne–enough that you could feel a little hungover when you do eventually wake up again around 5 PM–and you are hangry. But also, exhausted. What could fill you, satisfy you, soothe your stomach irritated by tobacco and alcohol, and send you comfortably to sleep with a full belly–but also takes less than 5 minutes with minimum effort to prepare?
The answer, my friend, is instant ramen with potato chips in it. I know it may sound crazy, but this is one of those things you hear about and think it sounds yucky until you try it, and are like “Oh, I get it.” I was the same way as a kid when I read about eating macaroni & cheese with salsa (and I mean proper salsa, like fresh pico de gallo or salsa verde) in the Sammy Keyes teenage detective books series. The dish was the favorite food of the protagonist, and I thought it was insane. Then I was finally tempted to try it, and it slapped! But proper mac & cheese takes a long time to prepare, and has a speedy expiration date. Enter instant ramen and a bag of Lays.
This has been my go to cheap/quick/hungry/hangover-prevention meal for ages. It started in high school, when the Korean bar I used to go to made these amazing bowls of vegetable ramen we ate after consuming too many beers. The hot broth and noodles soothed my stomach and seemed to soak up the alcohol, ensuring that I woke up without that empty-calorie sick feeling. Yet my tongue was missing the salty component and additional heft of a bag of plain potato chips–the official go-to snack of 2000’s urban youth like myself–to round out the flavor palette.
This has been my go to cheap/quick/hungry/hangover-prevention meal for ages.
When I started consuming instant ramen in my freshman year of college, somehow potato chips eventually entered the bowl and stayed there. I’m unsure why I started doing this; I don’t think I made it up myself. However the combination came into my life, I feel very happy about it. Instant ramen, while perhaps not the most “nutritious” as a processed food, is very filling. If you pick the right brand, it can be truly delicious.
My preferred brand is the Nongshim Veggie Ramyun in the green package. This version is a bit spicy and has a kick to it, so be warned if you can’t handle flavor. I like this particular instant ramen brand because the noodle quality and flavor profile is very high compared to say, Chicken Flavor Cup of Noodles (yucky, but most of what I ate in freshman year of college and very affordable), or the White Chicken Yatekomo noodles I use when I can’t find Nongshim in certain parts of Europe–sadly, I no longer have a local H-Mart with an entire aisle dedicated to instant noodles I can browse freely at. While not ramen, the Allgroo Udon brand is also a good alternative–although I have only tried their Mushroom & Tofu flavor and don’t find the addition of the potato chips a good alternative there. Nongshim is so good that I have used it as a proper dinner as well, preparing well-seasoned beef meatballs, making two packages of the ramen, and putting the cooked meatballs in the soup. This is fantastic, but like any Caribbean woman raised by elders of a certain generation, I will never share the recipe for seasoning my meats with anyone but my own children.
However, instant ramen plus potato chips is my trusty and reliable meal to put something on my stomach for less than 5 EUR, particularly after ingesting alcohol and/or not having the energy to do anything but open a package, boil water, and then slurp down a soup after 3 minutes or less of wait time. The salt and heavier consistency of the soaked potato chips adds dimension to instant ramen if it feels otherwise too plain. It can also be made anywhere you have a kettle and some utensils.
Recipe:
(Ingredients)
1 - 2 packages your preferred instant ramen
1 bag salted plain potato chips
[Optional: Soy sauce, or chopped cilantro if you are feeling fancy]1. Open ramen package and place into bowl. Set seasoning packets aside.
2. Boil water.
3. Pour hot water into bowl over ramen noodles and cover. I like to add the seasoning at this time too so that it soaks more into the noodles.
4. Wait for the allotted time stated on the ramen package.
5. Open bag of potato chips.
6. Pour the bag of chips into the bowl of ramen.
6b. Add seasoning now if you didn’t already. Add garnishes if you prepared them before going to work like a responsible gourmet adult connoisseur.
7. Eat and enjoy.
8. Go the fuck to sleep.
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