Frugal Foodie Friday - Ramen Noodle Salad

Thursday, January 9, 2014 Add Comment Edit

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Those of us with small families eat loads of chicken and pork. Their convenient sizing makes them an ideal meal to prepare for two to four people and chops and cutlets have become a mainstay of small family dinners. The Silver Fox recently requested I make Tonkatsu, a Japanese pork cutlet, for dinner. I was happy to comply, because the cutlets are also a favorite of mine, and it gave me the opportunity to test an vaguely Asian noodle dish that I found on the blog What's Cookin Chicago. The dish was made with 30 cents worth of ramen that was tossed with carrots and cilantro and then dressed with a tart-sweet dressing that had some real zing. I decided to use the noodles as a side dish and arbitrarily called it a salad because I preferred it at room temperature rather than warm. Obviously, you can vary the vegetables you use, and the addition of a bit of meat or shrimp would make the dish suitable for a light meal. It takes all of ten minutes to make this noodle salad, so it is as easy on the cook as it is on the pocketbook. The dish adds color to the plate and if you like the tart-sweet combination, I think you'll enjoy today's Frugal Friday feature. Here is how the noodles are made.

Ramen Noodle Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of What's Cookin Chicago

Ingredients:
3 packages of any flavor ramen noodles
1/2 cup grated carrot
1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:
Discard seasoning packets from ramen noodle packages. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add noodles to water and cook just until done, about 4 minutes. Drain and place in a large bowl. Add carrot and cilantro. In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, sugar and sesame oil to combine. Drizzle dressing over noodles and toss. Serve noodles at room temperature. Yield 4 to 6 servings.