Depending on where you come from, instant noodles might give you nightmares of being a broke Uni student or great memories of sharing a bowl of hot ramen as comfort food.
But whatever the case, I think we can all agree instant noodles are a go-to meal for something fast, cheap and filling. It’s reliable. Something you can keep in your cupboard just in case.
But a packet of noodles and nothing else makes instant noodles look rather depressing.
Which is why I decided to make instant noodles into proper meals
MAMA Pho Bo Beef Instant Noodle Bowl
I love Pho, but Pho is hard to make at home. So if there’s a packet that promises to give me that clear rich beefy broth…I’m going to take it.
Make it fancy, but grabbing a pack of hotpot beef slices and garnish with spring onions, bean sprouts and herbs.
It’s a super easy cheat for when you can’t get to your favourite Pho restaurant, but really want a bowl of it.
Tip: Get oyster sauce and Sriracha sauce to get it even closer to the real thing.
Haidilao Laopai Vermicelli Beef And Tomato Instant Noodle
Haidilao doesn’t just do hotpot, they also have a line of instant noodles. One of them being this beef and tomato vermicelli.
This was my first time trying it, but I love tomato based anything so I had to pick this up when I was at Thai Kee IGA. And because it was my first time trying it, I didn’t add anything to it.
It was surprisingly pretty good. The soup base was rich and flavourful without it being overly salty like most instant noodle soups. The dehydrated veggies were, well it tasted exactly what you expect dehydrated veggies would taste like after cooking them back up. Oddly chewy.
The glass noodles though, were delightful.
Super Mi - Mi Goreng Instant Noodle
If you haven’t tried Mi Goreng before then I implore you to try them out. Mi Goreng is Indonesian stir fried noodles, and they are jam packed with flavour. Salty and spicy that will open up your appetite.
And so I had my Super Mi Mi Goreng just as Mi Goreng would be served on the streets of Indonesia. With a fried egg, a few slices of cucumber and tomato.
Which I think, makes this a proper meal and slightly healthier otherwise.
Prima Taste - Singapore Laksa Lamian Instant Noodle
Anyone who knows me well knows I love Laksa. And like most good noodle dishes – you can’t easily make them at home. So, if someone tells me I can have laksa instantly from a packet in the comforts of my own home.
I’m going to try it, and I’m going to try my best to recreate what I get at a restaurant.
I made the laksa with bean sprouts, fried tofu, chicken, prawns and a boiled egg, but I have to say the pack of Prima Taste laksa was really heavy. The soup base had a really big packet of what looked like genuine laksa soup paste and not just a flavour packet of powder.
The end result was a lot better than what I was expecting. It’s definitely a good substitute for dine-in laksa. 10/10 would buy again.
Myojo Yomiseno Yakisoba Instant Noodle
Last but not least, I have yakisoba. Japanese stir fried noodles.
The packaging of these noodles did not disappoint. Ingeniously designed like almost every other Japanese packet food I’ve ever had, so much so, I didn’t need to understand the Japanese instructions on the back to figure it out.
But enough about the packaging, what about the noodles?
Yakisoba is a common late night bite accompanied with beer and fried tidbits. So I paired my yakisoba with fried chicken, and it went down a treat. Even though these noodles were technically seeped in hot water and not stir fried, they didn’t feel like instant noodles. I could definitely imagine a plate of this stuff being served to me.
