#namamen

I found one of my favorite ramen packs on sale! The first pack I made traditional style, with ground meat and leafy greens, which is really nice in the cold weather. The next day, for something different, I tried them out as fried noodles in a pan, making a sauce out of the broth. That didn't work as well as I'd thought—even though the broth tastes really rich as a soup, once you turn it into a sauce, it doesn't feel very flavorful at all. But a better cook than me could probably do it!

I probably wouldn't get these noodles again, but I loved the chashu and liked the broth a lot. The menma were kind of the star, though—while they were somewhat fishy on their own, that flavor disappeared into the broth and the sour plum added some nice complexity. Good purchase from the plum festival this spring!

Anyway, definitely buying this again! I'd rate it higher than Soup No Tatsujin's tantanmen soup, but then again, that's maybe 1/3 the price, even without considering that it doesn't include noodles. In an ideal world, Nissin would start selling the soup alone so I could mix and match with cheap store brand noodles........

The ajitama are also Coop brand, and they are really, really good; perfect jammy yolks. I would absolutely recommend them. The noods were the thin version of my favorite ones from Seiyu. Thicker is better but these are still very good.

Toppings were blanched bean sprouts in Chinkiang vinegar (yummy but ugly), ajitama egg, and experimental fake chashu (marinated some very meaty ham in the leftover egg marinade, then fried it—wouldn't do that again!). But I did improve the egg marinade (from Just One Cookbook; 2 tbsp each soy sauce, sake, and mirin; heated briefly to dissolve a large pinch of sugar) by adding a large pinch of kombu dashi powder. I think these were the best they've ever been!

Overall, my favorite part was the toppings, especially the chashu! And chashu is most likely to be the weak point for me, but I am actually snacking on this stuff plain! I really had no idea 7-11 was on this level. Noodle-wise, this brand is satisfyingly thick but a little too eggy. I prefer Seiyu brand for both flavor and texture.

Seiyu brand shoyu ramen again, this time with MyBasket brand chashu pork and menma, shredded lettuce for texture, and home-grown green onion and baby chili pepper. This chashu is much thicker and meatier, with a tasty, savory-sweet marinade that I really like. The green onion and chili pepper look the same since they're both small and sliced in rounds, so you really can't predict the spiciness of any given bite, but that's fun too!

Shoyu ramen with homemade ramen eggs (about 1 day in the marinade) and Seiyu brand ramen, chashu pork, and menma. I liked the extra-thick menma (good for rice bowls!), but the chashu had kind of a gaminess that was off-putting. But as a whole, it was yummy and the yolks turned out beautiful :)