Hot Oil Noodles (Instant ramen)
I know I’m late to the culinary Class War bandwagon but I’ve been watching the show sporadically on Netflix. I saw an episode where they made food with convenience store foods. I saw one of the chefs, Jung Ji Sun (a white spoon chef), making hot oil noodles using instant ramen.
I was immediately intrigued by this recipe and I’ve decided to recreate it. I’ve made it a couple of times and the steps are the same as the traditional hot oil noodles but instead of making the noodles by hand and making the seasoning, I just used ramen and its seasoning packet.
Ingredients:
This recipe is very versatile, you can add any type of vegetables or protein to your choice and a pack of instant ramen. I suggest using a Korean ramen as it has a spice powder in each ramen package so it already has the chili flakes for the hot oil noodles. Also since the spice powder is already seasoned, you just need to pour the oil onto the spice powder. The only thing I would suggest is to infuse the hot oil so it’s more flavourful.
For the oil, you need some scallions and I added star anise, fennel seeds and szechcuan peppercorn. The spices are optional so if you don’t have it, don’t bother with it.
How to make it
First start cutting up some scallions to infuse the oil. Prepare your spices, if you are not using any spices then don’t worry, skip this step.
Wash your veggies, boil some water. In another pot, start by adding some oil to the pot and scallions. Turn the heat to medium and let it come up to temperature. The scallions will start to fry as the oil temperature goes up and the scallion will infuse the oil.
Once the scallions starts frying, just turn the heat on low and let it continue to fry. Once the oil has been infused with scallions, turn off the heat and add in your spices. Put it back onto the heat for 30s and turn it off.
Boil your veggies and noodles and cook to your desired doneness. Take the noodle and veggies out and into a bowl. Add in small spoonful of the noodle water. Then add in your spice powder and some chopped scallions.
If the oil has cooled down, just put the heat on for about 1 minute
Use a sieve over the noodles and pour your hot oil onto the noodles. Quickly mix together.
Pro-tip
- For the sake of time, I suggest boiling the water the same time as frying your oil. Since the oil is frying at a low temperature, you have time to boil your noodles and vegetables
- Add about 3/4 of the spice powder because it might be too spicy or salty if you use all of the spice powder.
- Top the noodles with some scallions before pouring on the hot oil.
Hot oil noodles (Instant Ramen)
Ingredients
Infused oil
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 1-2 scallions chopped into big pieces
- ½ star anise optional
- pinch fennel seeds optional
- pinch szechuan peppercorns optional
Noodles
- 1 pack instant ramen (e.g. Shin ramen)
- handful veggies of your choice
- sausage
Instructions
- Cut the scallions into large pieces. Prep your spices as well (optional)
- Wash and cut your veggies of choice. I used a bit of bok choy and napa cabbage
- In a small pot, heat up some oil with scallion pieces. Heat on medium low
- Once the scallion is frying in the oil, keep the heat on low to continue frying the scallions. Once you can smell scallion oil flavour, turn off the heat, take the scallions out. Put in your spices, set aside.
- In another pot, boil some water.
- Once the water boils, add in veggies and Instant noodles of your choice. Cook to your desired doneness.
- Take the veggies and noodles out, put on the spice powder and some chopped on top.
- Slightly reheat your oil on low once there are a mix of small and big bubbles around the spices, take it off the heat. Use a sieve over the bowl and pour the hot oil onto your noodles
- Mix everything together and eat right away.
