Replacing Ramen: Broad Wheat Noodles

Some time ago, we talked about my ramen habit. Almost immediately after writing that post, it occurred to me that there are other, better noodles in the world that are just as cheap. Naturally, I visited my local Asian grocery to have a look around. This post is the first in a series I'm going to call "Replacing Ramen: the quest to find a healthier, better tasting noodle!" In truth, I'm over doing it a little by calling it a "quest". This is the first noodle I've tried, and it's already miles ahead of ramen. It's too late now though; the words are already typed.

ANYWAY, this post is about Carolyn and me cooking up some "broad wheat noodles" with vegetables and spicy lemon sauce. I'm calling them "broad wheat noodles" because I can't find a better name. The package is littered with Asian characters and has only the enigmatic words "Oriential Style Noodle Pasta" in English. Now, before we get started on the recipe, a warning to everyone out there joining in on this quest for a better noodle: this recipe requires both boiling and frying of the noodles, which is nearly twice as much work as ramen.

So here's how it works:

Spicy lemon sauce:
(amounts for 2 large servings)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
1+ tsp chili garlic sauce

The cooking:
-Boil water, add noodles.
-Let them cook for 6-8 minutes on medium-high heat. For some reason, I have trouble pinning down "al dente" with these noodles.
-Remove from heat and rinse thoroughly in cool water until noodles are cool.
-Fry some vegetables. How much oil you use depends on the number of eaters, but keep in mind that the noodles are going to be added as well. 2 tbsp for 2 servings seems like enough.
-We used baby corn, carrots cut in sticks, and turnip greens(cut into strips, added a few minutes later than the rest)
-When vegetables are to your liking, add noodles
-Fry for a minute, then add sauce.
-Fry for another 3 minutes. Serve in magnificently large bowls like the one you see above.

So this is my new favorite dish. Lotta thoughts on this; I'll try to be brief but likely will fail. I feel like these noodles don't lend themselves as well to typical stirfry vegetables like broccoli and mushrooms. Baby corn and carrots are the perfect accompaniment. The turnip greens were something new for us too. The collard greens we tried a few days before turned out so well that we were feeling adventurous. The turnip greens were an excellent addition as well; they're a very hearty leaf that stands up well both to frying and to the bold flavors of the dish. Neither Carolyn nor I can think of other vegetables that would be better suited for these noodles.

This sauce, despite it's simplicity, is perfect, especially for these noodles. There are substitutions and other seasonings to try, as I've discussed in the ramen post, but I keep coming back to this simple combination.

In my opinion, these noodles really require the rinsing and frying process after they're cooked. They're a very starchy product. When you first put them in the water, you can see a cloud of starch off the noodles and go into the water, which means that they'd be awful as a soup. I suppose you could rinse them prior to cooking. I haven't tried it and won't. They're very brittle, so the process would be difficult. Besides, I'm perfectly happy with them as they are.

As I said above, al dente is hard to pinpoint on these noodles. I'm not sure why this is exactly. It seems like they're almost ready, almost ready, almost ready, too done. Even though it's difficult, it's very important that you get them just right, since they'll also be fried. If you over-cook them in the water, the frying is going to make them into glue. If you under-cook them, the frying will dry them out even further by drawing what water there is. That said, a little under done is better than a little overdone.

I seem to have save the only bad part for the end, which is a shame. I really love this dish, and I haven't eaten a single package of ramen since I bought these. Try it.