A Ramen Twist

I promised a dear friend that I would post a recipe for ramen that I made the other night...because I am a woman of my word here it is with an attempt to turn it into a blog post.

Last Friday was definitely our first taste of winter.  It was downright cold and the wind felt like it was slicing through you.  Someone, who shall remain nameless, refused to cut the heat on in my house therefore I wanted something warm to go with my side of blankets.  I thought about ramen noodles but one of the hardest things about dialysis is all of the dietary restrictions.  One of the biggest ones is making sure your sodium intake is low.  Excessive salt makes you retain water and for someone who also has to watch their fluid intake, yea, you get the picture.  So, my culinary wheels started turning and I thought, "Self, why can't I just make my own ramen?"  And a new dish was born!!!!  There are still some tweaks I want to make on it and I had limited resources but its a great base to start out with.  

Shrimp Ramen

A closer picture so you can see what's in it...nom nom nom

So, to start this lovely bowl I took a pot and put about 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth in.  I chopped up some onion, carrots, and grated in two cloves of garlic but this is where you can go wild!!!  Like I stated before, I had limited resources but grated ginger would be FANTASTIC...it would add a nice warmth and spiciness to the broth.  Essentially what you're doing is fortifying, or flavoring, your broth because it's really the base of the soup.  Then I added about two tablespoons of sriracha.  If you don't have this in your arsenal of pantry staples, I IMPLORE that you add it.  It's garlicky, spicy and a little goes a looong way.  After the sriracha, I added a teaspoon of red pepper flakes (I love things spicy...the hotter the better).  I try to stay away from soy sauce because it is nothing but sodium, but in the instances I need some for a recipe I keep a stash of packets from take out Chinese restaurants to use.  Small portions and they're FREE, lol.  I added one pack to the broth along with some kosher salt, course ground black pepper and onion and herb Mrs. Dash seasoning.  Next, I need some acid to balance out the heat.  Ideally, you will want to use fresh citrus juice such as lime or lemon juice.  Unfortunately I had neither so I used a combination of vinegars.  I know, I know but you'd be surprised, lol.  I used hot pepper infused vinegar, regular white vinegar and red wine vinegar.  Now, I haven't put measurements for the vinegar because I tend to be VEEEEEERY heavy handed with it...I can never have enough.  For the average person a few shakes of each will suffice...for me that's a tease, lol.  I allowed the broth to come to a simmer and popped some peeled, raw shrimp in.  It was about a fourth of a pound.  I allowed the shrimp to cook until pink, mere minutes, and pulled them out.  This also helps to fortify the broth with a little shrimpiness (yes that's a word, lol.)  After removing the shrimp I turned the pot up to a medium high heat and let it come to a rolling boil and let it reduce to about half.  I then took some whole grain thin spaghetti and placed it in the broth to cook.  I did this so that the starch from the pasta would give the broth a little viscosity...so the broth wouldn't be so thin.  One of the best parts of soup is slurping the broth at the end and it has to feel smooth going down, lol.  After the noodles were al dente, I allowed them to rest in the broth for a few additional minutes so that they could absorb some of that broth and just make everything taste really flavorful. Now, I will say after making the soup I did contemplate instead of sort of poaching the shrimp earlier in the process that maybe adding them at the end and letting the hot broth cook them slowly so they don't get overdone could be an option.  My only concern with that is the broth won't get that shrimpy punch I'm looking for.  If you decide to give that method a try, PLEASE let me know how that works for you.  I transferred my broth, noodles and shrimp to my bowl and added a handful of fresh spinach.  I allowed the heat from the broth to wilt it down in the soup to keep it from making it overdone and bitter.  The only thing I was really missing was a garnish of scallions...that would have taken that bowl straight to heaven! After that, I proceeded to take my bowl into my warm bed, with my ice cold seltzer, and slurp my noodles and watch tv.  Perfect Friday night.

Now for the tweaks, I will DEFINITELY make sure I have limes on hand the next time.  Fresh citrus brightens up all flavors and adds a nice, sharp cleanness to any dish.  I would even recommend a squeeze right before you dig in.  Another tweak is that I have to remember that the longer you cook something with spicy components, the hotter they get.  I was a tad overzealous with the sriracha and almost set my soul on fire.  I did try adding some honey to balance it, but the unfortunate thing about adding TOO much spice is that it is hard to reverse it.  Lastly, I want to make sure my ingredient game is a little tighter.  I feel like some ginger, five spice, bok choy, celery, fresno peppers and other fresh produce could have really taken it to another level.  Don't get me wrong, I devoured my bowl but I'm all about taking something small and improving it to make it sensational.  

Sorry this doesn't have precise measurements, times, etc., but this literally was something I got out of bed and put together in my head as I was going along...but take that as a nugget to embrace.  Cooking isn't always about being exact...know what it is you like and go from there, you're tastebuds will NEVER steer you wrong.

I hope this was helpful and that you enjoy it honey!!!  Let me know how it turns out.

Oh yea, don't feel like you must use shrimp either.  I like them because I can get a pound of medium, shelled uncooked ones for about $7 and that's enough for two meals.  Also, shrimp have practically NO calories but are very high in protein.  Chicken is always a great alternative, I would just suggest cutting it thin enough that it cooks quickly to preserve some of its juiciness.  

A martini would go will great with this too...a sake one...let me start researching that, lol