Nearly Instant Garlic Ginger Ramen Noodles

For some reason as much as I cook and and much food as I usually have in the house I still often forget to eat until my stomach is hurling obscenities at me. I have a few go to meals as a solution and they almost always include noodles. They also usually involve shrimp because they thaw really fast if they're in the freezer and they cook even faster.




I will not be shamed into feeling bad for having a whole lot of ramen noodle packs on hand at all times. I'm a big fan of Indomie but I have a handful of plain ramen curly noodle packs as well. You can grab the plain noodles like the KA-ME brand or use Sapporo instant noodles which are cheaper and come with a flavor packet. Toss out the flavor packet or save it if you like to use them but we don't need them here.

This is a pantry staple dish so for me I have all these ingredients on hand but the most important thing is it's fast, I have everything without a trip to the store, prep is very minimal and cook time is speedy. This will only come together well if your ingredients are ready before you start.



If you have a microplane you should use it for the garlic and ginger. If you don't have one you can use a food processor to blitz the garlic and ginger to a paste or finely chop and run your knife back and forth through it a few times. use whichever is faster and easier for you.

This egg has a soft middle but it's not gooey or runny, pretty much perfect if you ask me. A 6 minute egg gives you a much softer and gooey center, if you're into that. The egg can wait in the shell while you do the rest but sometimes people have a hard time peeling a hard boiled egg, it's easy! Tap the pointed top and bottom on a hard flat surface, turn it on it's side and with slight pressure from your palm roll the egg in a straight line. It should be easy to peel from there and if you're lucky it'll come off like a sheet. Feel free to do more than one egg and refrigerate a few in the shell so you can use in your second helping or for breakfast, they will keep for 2-3 days.

Each step of this recipe means you're doing two things at once. When the egg is boiling, chop and prep the garlic, ginger and scallion. While the water is boiling for noodles fry up the shrimp and sweat the garlic and ginger that way when the noodles are done you can combine, stir and be on the couch in no time.


This recipe serves one, double or triple it for sharing.

1 egg, boiled
5 large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tsp to marinade shrimp
3 tbsp neutral flavored oil, vegetable/safflower/canola
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fresh ginger (about 1- 1 1/2 inch root)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 bunch (6-7 bulbs) of scallion, sliced
1 pack Japanese curly ramen noodles, cooked as directed but without a flavor pack!
reserve 3 tbsp cooked ramen noodle water
salt to taste

In a small bowl add 1 tsp soy sauce to the shrimp, reserve 3 tsp soy for later, coat shrimp and set aside 10 minutes.

For the egg, bring water to a full boil, place the egg on a spoon and slip it into the water, set a timer to 8 minutes and as soon as it goes off move the pot to the sink and run cold water into the pot for 2 minutes to stop the egg from continuing to cook. set aside egg to peel and halve once the ramen is finished.

Grate ginger and garlic into a small bowl along with pepper flakes and a pinch of salt.  Chop scallion both white and green portions, keep separate.

In the pot you used for the egg, boil noodles according to provided cooking instructions usually 3-5 minutes. Drain and reserve 3 tbsp of the noodle water.

While your noodles boil - heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan and cook shrimp 3 minutes on each side, remove shrimp and set aside, turn the heat off under the oil and add the bowl of garlic, ginger, pepper flakes and salt to the still hot oil. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon for 1 minute. Add scallion. Stir an additional 30 seconds then pour the noodles in the pan with the reserved noodle water, add remaining 1 tbsp soy sauce, toss well to coat. Top with shrimp, peeled and halved soft boiled egg, additional pepper flakes, chopped scallion or sesame seeds.




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