Simple trick: how to make ramen from spaghetti
Craving a bowl of ramen, but don’t have any ramen noodles on hand? Don’t panic. You can also get pretty far with a packet of spaghetti and baking soda.
Yes, those instant noodle packets costing less than a euro are delicious. According to FavorFlav’s Wieke, the Samyang Hot Chicken Carbonara is the very best. Add boiling water, jazz it up with cream cheese and mozzarella, and you have a divine dish (that will probably be gone within a minute). But sometimes you crave the real deal. Real ramen. With real ramen noodles. What do you do when you have enormous cravings, but no noodles to make ramen with? Open your kitchen cupboard and reach for the packet of spaghetti and the baking soda.
Alkaline
It is whispered that you can turn spaghetti into ramen by cooking it in water with baking soda. The baking soda gives the spaghetti a ramen-like texture, making it seem as though you are eating ramen. How does that work? Ramen noodles contain kansui, or alkaline minerals. This gives ramen its characteristic yellow color and ‘springy’ bite. Baking soda is alkaline too. Because kansui is not so easy to find outside Asia, some cooks choose to make their ramen with baking soda. Later, people realized that you can also get that ramen-like texture by cooking dough in water with baking soda, instead of incorporating it into the dough itself.
The right proportions
It is important to pay attention to the ratio of baking soda to water. Too much baking soda in relation to the water can give your noodles a slightly bitter aftertaste. Do you have a light broth? Add 2 teaspoons of baking soda per liter of water. If you have a very rich, flavorful broth, you can use a full tablespoon of baking soda per liter of water. The strong flavor of the broth will mask the bitter aftertaste. Then cook the noodles as usual and you will see that they become both yellower and develop the delicious bite you know from ramen noodles.
Be careful
Tip: always stay near the boiling water when applying this trick. The baking soda can make the water bubble and splatter vigorously. So keep a safe distance. Also make sure that too much water does not ‘steam away’. The baking soda will then become highly concentrated and give off an ammonia-like flavor. Yuck.
Ramen recipes
Looking for delicious ramen recipes? These broccoli ramen with egg and chili are healthy, delicious and super easy to make. Anyone who feels like (and has time to) really make something of it should go for this ‘Ramenstein – Du hast pork’. You will be in the kitchen for a while—read: almost 4 hours—but believe me: it is absolutely worth it.
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Source: Serious Eats
