Struggle of Ramen noodles vs Ramen Packets

TheMaggre

I'm a dieter who likes to keep all the tasty fun foods in their diet, just in moderation or with more foodful spins, and one of those foods is Ramen. Store made ramen is surprisingly low calorie despite having plenty of fat in the broth, but is over all really nutrition because of the broth making process. Still, I'm not always willing to splurge on 15 dollar ramen, sometimes its time for the 15 cent kind.

I know these noodles are fried to maintain the hollow core of the noodle threads that allow them to cook quickly, but MAN are ramen packs high calorie garbage hahaha. I've been able to find some more nutritious ramen noodle bundles at my local asian grocery, but what's really elusive is the flavoring pack...

My gut feeling says the packs are mostly MSG, some spices, and like, crushed up bullion- in other words, things that probably don't calorically amount to more than maybe 30 calories per pack... But I wasn't sure if anyone else had any ideas about how to account for these flavoring packs? Should I just assume that they're the same content, gram for gram, as a bullion cube?

I'm also not talking about the fancy ramen with dried veggies and add-able oils, I'm talking about the dirt-cheap noodle block and powder type of deal!

acpgee

The instant ramen made with bean thread vermicelli or rice noodles don't need to be fried to make the noodles instant. In the same price range at the Asian supermarket. Cuts down calories about 30% compared to instant ramen made with wheat noodles.

If you are trying to do DIY instant ramen consider adding asian pastes and sauces as well as asian boullion powders.

Regarding bouillion powders, good dashi stock powder doesn't contain MSG. If you don't mind the MSG the boullion powders sold for the asian market even manufactured by international companies such as Knorr are way better tasting than the cubes they make for the Western market, probably due to inclusion of garlic powder. Anyway the tins or tubs of asian boullion powder are more convenient for portioning out the amount you want to use.

Asian wet ingredients I would consider using for flavouring broth are SE asian fish sauce, Chinese olive vegetable paste, XO sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, chilli pastes such as Chinese laoganma or Indonesian sambal badjak. If you like a little sweetness a drop of Indonesian ketjap manis (syrupy sweet soy) or Chinese could work. A few drops of sesame oil is always nice. Pastes that would need to be dissolved in a little water first (to prevent pellets forming) would be Japanese miso and Korean gochujang.

Here is an example of a very simple soup flavoured with SE asian fish sauce, onion, garlic and ginger that is very tasty despite simplicity. I keep ginger that has been thinly sliced against the grain, then blitzed in the food processor, then frozen in silicon ice cube trays before transferring to a ziplock bag in the freezer. Makes adding ginger to this type of soup very easy. The reason for slicing before processing is that ginger turns into a stringy mess otherwise.

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/how-to-make-vietnamese-canh

studentaccount2019

I would imagine that the flavoring pack has a similar calorie content to full sodium bouillon powder.

goal06082021

If you're talking about the 15-cent Maruchan bricks, yes, the flavoring packets are basically just crushed up bullion cubes. Maybe bullion cube plus some chili powder, if it's a spicy flavor.

chuckle_bunny

Look up the brand Lotus Foods. They make healthy ramen packets. The seasoning packets are a little high in sodium but just use half, it tastes fine.

adogslife9891

You can also sub out the flavor pack with chicken broth concentrate. It ups the price a little from .15 to $1 but it's worth it in my opinion. A box of 12 usually costs about $10.

cwolfman13

TheMaggre wrote: »

I'm a dieter who likes to keep all the tasty fun foods in their diet, just in moderation or with more foodful spins, and one of those foods is Ramen. Store made ramen is surprisingly low calorie despite having plenty of fat in the broth, but is over all really nutrition because of the broth making process. Still, I'm not always willing to splurge on 15 dollar ramen, sometimes its time for the 15 cent kind.

I know these noodles are fried to maintain the hollow core of the noodle threads that allow them to cook quickly, but MAN are ramen packs high calorie garbage hahaha. I've been able to find some more nutritious ramen noodle bundles at my local asian grocery, but what's really elusive is the flavoring pack...

My gut feeling says the packs are mostly MSG, some spices, and like, crushed up bullion- in other words, things that probably don't calorically amount to more than maybe 30 calories per pack... But I wasn't sure if anyone else had any ideas about how to account for these flavoring packs? Should I just assume that they're the same content, gram for gram, as a bullion cube?

I'm also not talking about the fancy ramen with dried veggies and add-able oils, I'm talking about the dirt-cheap noodle block and powder type of deal!

*kitten* loads of salt...look at the sodium content on a packet of cheap ramen...it's huge...

MaltedTea

I'm with @acpgee here. Head over to an authentic Asian food store to peruse and patronize.

I make homemade ramen redux with shiritaki noodles from a store near me. I also make my own dashi (well, fish stock) and non-pork meat stocks so salt is under my control.

If you like salt/savoury then the market will also likely have furikake for you to chose from. I don't think it typically goes on ramen (hence my redux) but it tastes great to me. 🤷🏿‍♀️