My Three Favorite Cup Noodles

Salut! It's Yoko, your food blogger.

Do you have cup noodles at home right now?

Cup noodles are one of Japan's great inventions, now popular overseas too.

I have three kinds at home at the moment, and I'm eating one of them right now as I write this.

Maybe because I share recipes and information on good restaurants,

some people seem to think I eat high-end French food every single day,

but that's not true at all. I eat my share of junk food and instant food.

Not often, but my diet is definitely not free of MSG.

So today I'm going to introduce my favorite cup noodles!

Great Kakiage Tempura! Nissin Donbei Kakiage Tempura Udon

When it comes to soba and udon, there seem to be Nissin people and Maruchan people,

and lately what I love is this "Nissin Donbei Kakiage Tempura Udon."

*The ridiculously realistic green onion is something I always keep in the fridge and added afterward, lol.

The udon itself is a little thin for my taste, but the kakiage (mixed vegetable fritter) is delicious.

It's called the "oni kakiage" (giant kakiage), and it really is big, like a real kakiage!

The flavor is quite realistic, too: crispy at first, and later the broth takes on its savory richness.

There's also a convenience-store-only large size, with more udon and a bigger kakiage than the regular one, and it's very filling.

A Flavor Hard to Find in Japan: Cup Noodle Singapore-Style Laksa

This one is Nissin too, like the Donbei.

Laksa is a dish eaten in Malaysia and Singapore: a curry-flavored, fish-based broth with coconut milk.

It's characterized by the sourness of tamarind fruit, and the toppings include bean sprouts, chicken, shrimp and cilantro.

I love laksa, but there are few restaurants, so I can't usually eat it...

Last year I didn't see it at the supermarket after autumn, but lately I've been seeing it again, so it may be a limited release.

Adding the included laksa paste makes it taste quite authentic, so if you like cilantro and Southeast Asian flavors, do try it.

Springy Like Fresh Noodles! Maruchan Seimen Cup Yakisoba

If you like instant ramen that tastes like fresh noodles, it's probably a toss-up between "Maruchan Seimen" and "Nissin Raoh."

I used to buy Maruchan Seimen in bags and stock up.

After I'd eaten every kind of ramen, I tried other cup noodles for a while,

and then one day I was browsing the cup noodle aisle at the supermarket and... "Maruchan Seimen Cup Yakisoba" had come out without my noticing!

So I bought it, and was amazed at how good it was.

Inside there are three packets: liquid sauce, powdered sauce with aonori (seaweed flakes) topping, and dried toppings.

Add the dried toppings, pour in hot water and wait 5 minutes.

Gently drain the water so the toppings don't escape through the holes.

This is how it looks after adding the liquid sauce. That alone seems like quite a lot, but

next I add the powdered sauce and the seaweed topping!

Mix it up well and...

Look at that shine! One bite and it's slurpy and chewy!

With both a liquid and a powdered sauce, it's rich and deeply flavorful.

Unlike ramen, there's no soup, so you can enjoy the chewy texture even more,

and if you stir-fried some meat separately, added it and plated it up, nobody would be able to tell you hadn't made it from scratch!

It has that much realistic fresh-noodle feel, lol.

A Trick for Making Cup Noodles Chewy Like Fresh Noodles

As a bonus, here's a trick that gives cup noodles a chewy texture.

It's very easy. Add the toppings and hot water as you normally would,

then cover with plastic wrap and microwave at 500 to 600 W for about 3 minutes!

*Add powdered soup after microwaving!
*Don't do this with anything very oily, as it can splatter.
*Always transfer it to a microwave-safe bowl before heating.

I think the noodles absorb the water thoroughly and the starch gelatinizes well, which makes them chewy.

Try it, even if you're skeptical, lol.

So,

there are plenty of other cup noodles I like, but those were the ones I've been eating the most lately.

See you next time. Au revoir!