That's using your noodle

Story time sloths! The first thing I ever learnt to cook by myself was instant noodles on the stove (under supervision by mum to make sure I didn't set the house on fire of course, responsible parenting +1). Boil water in a pot, noodles in, and watch the magic happen for 2 minutes. After 22 years of noodle eating, I like to think I've got the art of noodle cooking down pat. This doesn't apply to pasta though (same principle but I swear it’s different) but that’s a story for another time.

 Now see, not all noodles are created equal and in my 22 years of life I've tried many a type; and they do not all taste the same, whether that be textural differences or flavour. Yes, this is a thing honestly; just humour me for a bit. My go-to brand is Ayam noodles but I haven’t found them in a while so I've been using the Sutah or Shin Ramyun individual packets. Those familiar with these brands may recognise them as soup noodles, but bah, I say. Life’s too short to follow the instructions on the back of a noodle packet! Boil them up, rinse and drain them, then mix with light soy sauce, sweet sauce, garlic oil and oyster sauce. I’m drooling already, but the point of this post is not to expound about the deliciousness that comes from perfectly cooked noodles. The point is that once upon a time, I had a dream.

Yes, that is a jam jar full of oil. 

Crispy garlic chunks in lightly flavoured garlicky oil, so good.

It's so beautiful; I think I'm going to cry, excuse me -sniffles-

Okay you caught me out, not really a dream, but my brother told me of a magical store in the city selling ‘ramen burgers’. To me, ramen brings to mind sweet, fatty, flavoursome pork bone broth with egg noodles, soft boiled egg with fish cake and vegetables topped with my go-to side of kaarage chicken (Japanese fried chicken). One Google search later, and I found that it was your run-of the mill burger with one teeny, tiny difference: the burger buns are made from noodles. Mind totally blown, am I right? Well my mind was blown anyway, and my fingers were itching to make it. So I did.

The ramen burger in all it's glory, look at those noodly patties

Looks vaguely like brain folds but don't let that put you off

Once again, apologies for no progress shots because past me never thought she'd be writing a blog post about how to make this, oops. I was inspired by this how-to video that POPSUGARFood put up on YouTube (you can watch it here) so this recipe is just for the buns. As for the fillings, at the risk of sounding cheesy the burger is a blank canvas and you’re the artist. I put a fried egg and beef patty, and then finished it off with veggies, sweet chilli sauce and Japanese mayonnaise, but you can go crazy with whatever fillings work for you! 

Ramen Burger Buns

Makes 2 buns

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 

• 2 individual instant noodle cakes (I used the Ayam brand, but you can use whatever’s on hand)
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD: 

1. Fill a saucepan with water sufficient enough to immerse the noodles, and bring to the boil.
2. Add the noodles and cook until desired consistency (generally 2 minutes is a good time)
3. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water to remove excess starch.
4. Put noodles in a bowl and crack the egg into the bowl. Mix the egg and noodles together until evenly coated.
5. Find two containers roughly the same size, otherwise you’ll have uneven burger buns and that’s no fun, then line it with cling film. 
• Ideally you want a round container for aesthetic purposes (I used two ramekins) but if you’re like me and collect those rectangular takeaway containers, you can use the takeaway container as the mould. You’ll just end up with a really long burger instead and that’s totally fine.
6. Divide the noodle mixture evenly between the two containers and cover the mixture with glad wrap/cling film, making sure to press the glad wrap against the noodles.
7. Press down the noodle patty into the container e.g. weigh it down with something.
• I used two jars of chilli that were sitting in the fridge and just placed them on top of the film (basically what you’re trying to achieve is to compress the patty together so it won’t fall apart on you when you fry it.)
8. Refrigerate the patty for about 10-15 minutes. During this time, you can work on getting your filling ready to minimise the time between assembling the burger and mouth-to-burger contact.
9. Heat up the frypan and put some oil in the pan to get it hot.
10. Carefully remove the noodle patties from the container and unwrap. Place them into the frypan and fry over low-moderate heat, flipping once, until both sides are evenly browned.
11. Transfer to a plate, ready for assembly.

Happy slothing!

xx