What's the buzz about Instant Ramen?
Instant Ramen noodles, or simply instant noodles, are noodles that were originally invented in Japan but are popular now in all Eastern Asia and among busy or lower-income salary-men and studients. Since I've been all of them, I've literally tasted at least a hundred different brands.
You've likely had a serving or two once in a while of instant ramen, right? Well, it's no surprise that Instant Ramen is actually a multi-billion dollar industry! Anyway, keep on reading for information on how to cook them (the lazy and the not-so-lazy way), how to eat them, and much more on your favorite noodles!
You've likely had a serving or two once in a while of instant ramen, right? Well, it's no surprise that Instant Ramen is actually a multi-billion dollar industry! Anyway, keep on reading for information on how to cook them (the lazy and the not-so-lazy way), how to eat them, and much more on your favorite noodles!
3 things you should know about Instant Ramen
- Instant Ramen is very popular worldwide, with 58 billion servings each year
- Instant Ramen was voted as the Japanese invention of the Century!
- Instant Ramen is high in carbohydrates and sodium (but tastes great!)
- Instant Ramen was voted as the Japanese invention of the Century!
- Instant Ramen is high in carbohydrates and sodium (but tastes great!)
How to cook Instant Ramen (the lazy way)
Photo by: Richy!
Preparing or cooking instant ramen is very simple! You will need:
- One serving of Instant Ramen
- Pot and stove to boil water
- Chopsticks! No spoon allowed
- If the ramen doesn't include a cup, any heat-resistant cup will do
STEP ONE: OPEN THE CUP
Open the cup. Ramen usually includes several small packages flavorings including spices, chilly pepper, and sometimes oil. Open up the packages and just throw them over the dried noodles. If you're new to ramen, my recommendation is to add only half of the chilly pepper. Most Asian brands are very hot and spicy, so be careful. I've seen that Korean ramen is a killer, and adding too much chilly pepper can kill you (or, at least make the serving difficult if not impossible to eat).
STEP TWO: BOIL THE WATER AND POUR
The next step is to boil water. Ramen only needs about one cup of water, so I'd recommend preparing your favorite tea (green tea would be nice!) along with the ramen. Anyway, as soon as the water boils, pour it inside the cup, covering the noodles and maybe a little bit more. The styrofoam cup is very resistant to heat, so don't worry about it.
STEP THREE: CLOSE THE LID, WAIT, OPEN, ITADAKIMASU!
Close the lid or cover the ramen with a towel for about 5-10 minutes. After that, the ramen is ready to eat, but be careful, it will be very hot, so I'd recommend opening the lid and waiting a bit more, or slurping the noodles. Well, grab your chopsticks and start eating! Itadakimasu~!
A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry? You kidding me?
Source: Instant-Ramen.net
Actually, no :)
It's true, 85 billion servings or instant ramen are consumed each year. That's about 13 servings for each human being living on planet Earth every year. Impressive, eh? Of course, if you take a look at the pie chart, you'll notice that China has the lead with about 50% of all instant ramen consumed in the world. South Korea has one of the highest consumption rate per capita - about 70 servings a year. If you're interested in the topic, click here for more information about the instant ramen industry and numbers.
A little bit about me
I've tasted (literally) hundreds of Japanese/Asian/Korean brands of Instant Ramen (and I'm still alive!). I love Asian culture, specially Chinese and Japanese culture, and started investigating and reading more about instant ramen. I recently decided to launch my own Japan-related website, including instant ramen of course. If you're interested take a look! :)
Reader Feedback
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- Pnigro Pnigro Feb 25, 2009 @ 8:58 am
- I like to eat instant ramen once in a while. The taste isn't anything worth dying for but it's so easy to cook and prepare, and that's why it's so successful.
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- YuanHao YuanHao Jan 22, 2009 @ 9:13 pm | in reply to Jimmie
- Same here, I don't eat that much of instant ramen since I graduated, so it's pretty much as you say, a love/hate relationship. We call them "pao mian" in Taiwan, I wasn't to aware of how they are called in China and of course I didn't know the DA bian mian joke, nice one! :D
Thanks for the addition to the group and the comment Jimmie! :)
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- Jimmie Jimmie Jan 21, 2009 @ 3:34 am
- I have a love hate relationship with Ramen (or fang bian mian as we call it in China). As a poor college student, I ate loads of it because it was so cheap. Now I despise it, but it's the only option a lot of times when riding trains in China. We have a joke. We call it DA bian mian. Get it??
Welcome to the Asian Foods group. What would an Asian foods group be without RAMEN?
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Just a mixture of Chinese+Taiwanese and Costa Rican blood, add some Japanese and English and voila, that's me!
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