Next Level Ramen
Most people don’t believe this when I tell them, but I don’t like ramen. I can’t even stand the smell of it. When I was in college, I did buy some because it was cheap, but I never could bring myself to actually eat it. I didn’t even introduce these to my son until he was 7 years old. But, now, he LOVES them!
I make stir-fry regularly and recently decided to replace the rice with ramen for two reasons: 1) I didn’t have any rice in the pantry and 2) my teenager has braces and hates when rice gets stuck in them. I still made cauliflower rice for me though…I told y’all I don’t like ramen!
My local grocer has these pork ribeyes that I have grown partial too. And, they are perfect with stir-fry. Just a perfect bite of pork! But, I’ve made this with chicken and beef too…any protein will work. Even tofu…but, I will save that for another post.
The first thing I do for the recipe is prep because once things begin cooking, the meal will be ready fast. There aren’t many things to prep for this recipe, but I do cut up a little onion and bell pepper to add to my riced cauliflower and the ramen. Then, I take out all the ingredients I will need for the recipe: the protein, the ramen, the frozen broccoli, and all the ingredients for my sauce.
The sauce really makes this dish. It has a ton of ingredients, but these are usually things you already have in your pantry or fridge: soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic paste or minced garlic, ginger paste (or dried), sriracha, mustard and a little brown sugar. If you don’t like the spice, you can substitute regular ketchup for sriracha. I usually prepare this before I begin cooking my meat.
The first thing I do is heat my pan with a little olive or vegetable oil over medium high heat. Once it’s warm, I add the pork steaks to the pan. I cook them for about 5-6 minutes on each side. These pork steaks are a thicker cut so you may need to adjust your cooking time depending on your particular cut of pork. When I take them out of the pan, they will be a little under done. This is how you want them because they will be going back in the pan to finish them off once you slice them.
While your meat rests, you can add your onions and peppers to the same pan. I usually add just a bit of olive oil. Once my veggies get cooking, I start the water and begin making the ramen and slicing the meat. At this point, I usually place the broccoli in the microwave too. I get the steamable bags of broccoli to save time. And, you can cook the ramen to your liking. You know how you like it. I told y’all…I don’t know much about ramen. LOL
When the veggies are done to your liking, you can remove them from the pan and add the sliced pork back to the pan. add about a ½ cup of the sauce you made to the pan with the meat and stir to combine and warm the sauce. You want to watch this closely because if the pork over cooks, it will be a dry mess! Once the meat has combined with the sauce and the mixture is warmed through, remove the pan from the heat. Again, don’t over cook this mixture!
Once everything is ready, you can begin building your bowls, drizzling sauce over each layer. Now, you can feel free to mix everything together. I keep my ingredients separate because some people in my house won’t eat the onions and peppers I feel add depth to this dish. Also, if you’re making a lower carb option, it’s easier to keep things separate. But, mixing everything is totally fine!
To plate the dish, I begin with ramen on the bottom. Then, I drizzle a little sauce over the ramen. Next, I layer the veggies (onion, pepper and broccoli) and drizzle a little sauce over these as well. I put the sliced pork on top and drizzle with a little more sauce (of course) and that’s it! If you like them, a sprinkle of green onions on top could add some color and crunch. But, I will leave that up to you.
One note I will make is that we don’t prefer soupy ramen in my house. So, when making this dish, I use about half of ramen seasoning (that stuff is salty) and drain almost all the water off the noddles. The sauce gets diluted and lost in the broth if you use too much water in your ramen.
And, that’s about it! This is a tasty, easy and inexpensive meal that is sure to be a hit with everyone in your family!
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
1 lb of protein of your choice
½ cup of onions, diced
½ cup of red pepper, diced
1 bag of steamable broccoli
2 packages of ramen (any flavor that compliments your protein)
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup teriyaki sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp garlic paste or minced garlic
1 tsp ginger paste or ½ tsp of dried ginger
2 tsp sriracha (use less or ketchup if you don’t like spice)
1 tsp mustard
2 tsp brown sugar
Directions:
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. While the skillet is warming, dice the onions and peppers and season the protein. Once the skillet is warm, add seasoned protein to the skillet and cook. Begin preparing the ramen while the protein cooks (do this to your liking, but see hint above regarding the amount of seasoning and water). When the protein is done, remove it from the pan and allow it to rest then, slice the protein. Add the remaining olive oil to the same skillet and cook the onions and peppers for about 3-4 minutes. Remove the veggies from the pan and replace them with the sliced meat and about half of the sauce you prepared. Cook the broccoli in the microwave according to the package directions. Once the sauce and meat has been combined well, remove this mixture from the pan so it does not continue to cook. It can burn easily due to the sugar in the sauce.
When both the broccoli and the meat mixture is done, begin building the dish. Plate the ramen, veggies and meat (in that order) adding a drizzle of sauce to each layer and the top of the dish. Enjoy!