Tomato + Kimchi Instant Noodle (Tomato Kimchi Ramyun)

Pimping instant noodles is a huge and popular genre of cooking, and I love seeing some of the clever ideas shared on social media. Ramyun (noodles in a soupy broth with a variety of flavours and toppings) are enormously popular in Korea and the instant variety are a staple quick slurp for many.

This recipe from Su Scott’s Pocha cookbook takes a pack of Korean instant noodles as its starting point and adds fresh tomatoes, kimchi, and cheese to create an altogether more exciting bowl of food.

You can find our full review of Su Scott’s Pocha cookbook here, and you may also enjoy our review of our previous cookbook, Rice Table.

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Tomato + Kimchi Instant Noodle (Tomato Kimchi Ramyun)

I don’t know if there is a better impromptu slurp than instant noodles. It’s cheap, it’s fast and it’s always on hand if you are like me, stashing away a couple of packs at the back of the cupboard for that emotionally ravenous moment that requires an immediate T fix of familiar slurp. While it may seem odd to write about how to cook packet noodles, I do feel that it does make sense to include a version of ramyun in here, as it is such an important part of Korean food culture. It’s what most of us learn to cook first to satiate our hunger on a whim. We bond over the shared love of noodles slurped together late at night; a sure-fire way of initiating an intimate human connection. We all have our personal preference of how we like to cook the same packet of noodles and yet ramyun, to me, is an entirely universal dish that shouts COMFORT: a gateway to a Korean soul. And a version of mine goes something like this.

Servings 1 person

Author Su Scott

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 spring onion (scallion), white part sliced; the green part thinly sliced at an angle for garnish
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 80 g 3oz ripe cabbage kimchi, roughly chopped
• ½ tsp golden granulated sugar
• 1 tomato, skinned and cut into 8 wedges
• 1 pack of Korean instant noodles (I like Shin or Ansungtangmyun)
• 480 ml (16½ fl oz / 2 cups) just-boiled water
• 1 egg
• parmesan, grated for garnish

Instructions

• Put the vegetable oil, the white part of the spring onion and the garlic in a cold, lidded saucepan (we will need the lid for poaching the egg). Place it over a medium heat to gently warm up the oil to infuse the flavours of the aromatics.
• Once the pan starts to sizzle and smells very fragrant, stir in the kimchi and sugar. Lower the heat a touch and sauté for 5 minutes to soften the kimchi. Add the tomato and both the seasoning and dried vegetable sachets from the packet of noodles. Pour in the hot water and crank up the heat to bring to the boil. Add the noodles and cook on a medium–high heat for 2.5 minutes (or for 3 minutes if you prefer more cooked noodles), stirring occasionally to loosen the noodles.
• While the pan is still on a high heat, gently crack in the egg, then reduce the heat to low and put the lid on top to steam the egg for 1 minute; this will poach the egg with a runny yolk. Remove the pan from the heat but let it sit for another 30 seconds with the lid left on. Scatter with the reserved green part of the spring onion and grate over mounds of parmesan cheese. Slurp immediately – and carefully – while the noodles are bouncy and steaming hot.

Of course, you can choose different brands and flavours of instant noodles to make this recipe. Here, we chose Nongshim Neoguri Mild Seafood Noodle Ramyun which we picked up at our favourite Chinese supermarket (which sells items from across East and South East Asia).

If you love Korean food, do check out our full list of Korean recipes!

Kavey Eats received a review copy of Su Scott’s Pocha: Simple Korean Food From The Streets Of Seoul from publishers Quadrille. Photography by Toby Scott. Home cooking photos by Kavita Favelle.