Miso Ramen Lunch Bowls

I post on this blog in a completely random fashion, but since it’s the new year, I decided to post a new “recipe”.  Recipe is in quotes, because you can probably find at least 20 variations of this on Pinterest.  I started there, in an attempt to find what I wanted to make, but then just decided to take some from each and make my own.

My goals, for this meal:

1. I wanted a miso soup, for my work week lunch meal
2. I wanted it to have noodles, whether ramen or rice noodles
3. I wanted it to be portable. Soup is a pain to transport to work.
4. I wanted the prep to not be an all day endeavor
5. I wanted the ingredients to be simple enough, that I wouldn’t have to buy 50 ingredients and never use 47 of them again

So, I picked out the ingredients, that I wanted in my soup.  I then figured I could just add hot water at work.  That way, I’m just prepping containers for the week, with all the fillings. The broth can be made right at the end.

First, the ingredients list. You can certainly add and remove, based on what you like.  I also note the 1 switch, that will take this from vegetarian to vegan.

•  Ramen noodles – pull out the noodles, and ditch the high sodium seasoning packet. I did not use a name brand, but found one in the Asian aisle of Wegmans, which was a little narrower than the name brand squares of dried noodles
• Eggs – hard boil and shell one for each soup container. To make this recipe vegan, nix the egg, and bake some tofu. I didn’t want to do a lot of cooking, so I didn’t include tofu, but it would be a great addition or substitution
• Shitake mushrooms – I picked out 2 for each day, in the bulk section, instead of getting a whole container
• Scallions (green onion) – a small bunch will do
• Corn – a small can (8.75 oz) is more than enough.
• Miso paste – I also get this from Wegmans, in the Asian section. It’s in a clear tub.  When I got some for this recipe, I found that there was a red and a white. Seems they are fermented with different things, which give it a corresponding view. It looks like this: https://www.wegmans.com/products/international-foods/asian-foods/miso/soybean-paste-shiro-miso.html
• Wakame seaweed – Also in the Asian section. In a bag, and looks like dried flakes. It balloons up in water! https://www.wegmans.com/products/international-foods/asian-foods/soup/soup-seaweed-instant-wakame.html

See the picks below, to see how I assembled the bowls.  I got ziplock medium bowl shaped containers, which worked really well.  On the bottom of the container, I placed 2 chopped up shitake mushrooms, a hard boiled and peeled egg, 3/4 TBSP of miso paste, 1-2 TBSP of corn, and approximately 1 TBSP of diced/sliced scallions.

Then I placed a piece of wax paper on that, to separate the “wet” ingredients from the “dry” ones.  That is simply the dried noodles and the wakame seaweed.  Keep in mind that the seaweed is an acquired taste.  It also will blow up, and can consume your bowl, if you add too much.

Finally, I used a hot water machine, in the office copy room, to fill up my soup (after removing the wax paper, of course.  Make sure to put the lid back on, and give it a couple of minutes, so the noodles can get noodle-y.  Now that I’ve tried the recipe, I will say that it is pretty great.  The hot water isn’t as hot as I would like. I may need 1 secondary container for microwaving water, so I can get it more thoroughly hot.

Check out all that wakame!

I’m looking forward to having this for my work lunches for the week.  I just need to figure out hotter water, to steep and prepare the soup.  Definitely a keeper.