I’ve been on a break for the past month or so as I had and healed from some minor surgery, but I’m back! I’m not quite up to full capacity, so to speak, but I’m so over just sitting around and resting. It’s mighty boring! To kick off my return, I wanted to make something spicy. I love hot and spicy food, and I love ramen, so this Spicy Coconut Curry Ramen really appealed to me. I keep instant ramen on hand for quick snacks, but the flavoring packet that comes with it has nothing on all the delicious ingredients included in this recipe. Literally, everything in it is something I like, so I can’t wait to put them all together!
An ultra-creamy, slightly spicy broth with quick-cooking ramen and your favorite Thai ingredients for huge flavor. Ready in 20 minutes, versatile, and made in one pot. Serve with scallions, cilantro, eggplant, or chicken.
The Ingredients
My pre-shopping pantry (and fridge) check found a few ingredients. Garlic, chicken broth, ground turmeric, fish sauce, limes, instant ramen noodles, and chili oil were all in my kitchen.
Surprisingly, I was out of toasted sesame oil, brown sugar, sambal oelek, and red curry paste. I think the last two were victims of my refrigerator dying a while back. Everything in it was tossed to be safe, and I haven’t fully restocked.
Fortunately, I found everything I needed at my usual grocery store. They even had the sambal oelek chili paste. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it. It’s full of hot and spicy flavor!
Tip: Be sure to buy toasted sesame oil. Regular sesame oil doesn’t have much flavor, but the toasted sesame oil has tons. It should say “toasted” on the label and have a deep brown color. By comparison, untoasted sesame oil is a clear light yellow color and has a neutral flavor.
The Process
I began this recipe with the prep work in Step One. I tore the sliced shiitake mushroom into small pieces, peeled and grated the ginger, and pressed the garlic. The recipe does say to grate it, but I don’t like grating the small cloves—I always scrape my fingers when I do it. Pressing the garlic was a safer option.
As I worked, I put on a 5-quart Dutch oven with a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil. I moved straight into frying the mushrooms until they crisped up. They didn’t need to be fussed over, so I had plenty of time to prep the remaining ingredients while they fried.
After removing the mushrooms from the pot, I deglazed it and began making the spicy broth. Once the chicken broth I used to deglaze the pan was boiling, I added the remaining broth ingredients and brought the mixture to a boil. it smelled so good!
The final step was to add three packets of instant ramen noodles and cook them for two minutes. I didn’t use anything fancy, just the instant ramen packets I always buy for about $1.00 each. They came with chicken flavor packets, but I tossed those. Once the ramen was done, I removed the noodles from the broth so they didn’t get mushy while I made the soft-boiled eggs.
Making the Eggs
This recipe doesn’t include instructions for the eggs, but they were easy to make. I was tempted to use my egg cooker but decided to boil them since it’s the most popular method. I put a 2-quart pot of water on to boil as I made the ramen, it was ready immediately after I finished with the ramen.
All I had to do was lower the eggs into the pot one at a time and let them cook for six minutes. The result was eggs with soft yolks and mostly set whites. If you like your eggs firmer they will need to cook longer. The times I found for boiled eggs were:
- 3 minutes for eggs with runny yolks and whites
- 6 minutes for eggs with set whites and runny yolks
- 8 minutes for eggs with fully set whites and halfway set yolks
- 10 minutes for eggs with fully set whites and a little softness in the yolk
- 12 minutes for eggs with fully set whites and yolks
Tip: I used a skimmer to add and remove the eggs from the boiling water, but a slotted spoon or ladle would also work.
The next step was to add the boiled eggs to a bowl of ice-water to cool for a few minutes. Once that was done, I served up the ramen noodles in plenty of broth and topped them with crispy mushrooms, chives, sesame seeds, and a dash or two of chili oil. A sliced egg on the side was the final garnish, and this dish was ready to eat.
Timing
This recipe listed 5 minutes to prep, 15 minutes to cook, and a total time of 20 minutes. Here’s how my time was spent:
- 7 minutes to do the prep work in Step 1
- 10 minutes to cook the mushrooms and finish the remaining prep work
- 8 minutes to make the broth and cook the ramen noodles
- 25 minutes total
It took me a little extra time to peel the garlic and ginger, and I think that’s why it took me a little longer to finish the prep work. I also gave the mushrooms a quick rinse and patted them dry. Also, removing the ramen from the broth so it didn’t get mushy while I made the eggs took a minute or two. I have a feeling the next time I make this recipe will be faster.
The above time doesn’t include making the soft-boiled eggs. Looking back, I think I could have made them with the ramen, but I was cautious and made them separately this time. Here’s how it went:
- 6 minutes to cook the eggs
- 4 minutes to cool
- 2 minutes to peel
- 12 minutes total
I’m not including time to make the eggs in the time rating, only the ramen and broth.
