Ghibli Week 2: Ponyo Ramen

This post we go underwater to 崖の上のポニョ (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea)! Released in 2008, it's vaguely based on Han Christian Andersen's story of 'The Little Mermaid'. Now with this one, it's a bit of a cop out because it's not reaaaally a recipe per se. It's throwing delicious things into a bowl then eating them. So without further ado, I give you Ponyo's Ramen!

(Source) The original..

And the copy!

Nomnom noodles

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM

This one's pretty easy, soft-boil or hard-boil an egg, wait until it's cooled down so you can touch it without burning yourself then shell it. Thinly slice some spring onions/scallions, and get the ham ready. To get a thicker slice than usual, I got mine as a cut-off from the local deli then sliced it to resemble the ham from the movie. Noodles and flavouring into a bowl, then pour over boiling water and cover.for ~3 minutes. Once the noodles have softened and look more noodley, then assemble! That's one half of the egg, two slices of ham and a handful of chopped spring onion. And that's about it really, hope you'll tune in for my next post!


Happy slothing!!
xx

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!