One instant ramen brick (think Maruchan or Top Ramen)
1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon No Chicken soup base
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon lemon or tomato juice, or a slice of lemon or tomato
½ cup fresh or frozen vegetables, to your liking
1 teaspoon chopped spring onions
Other seasonings and spices, to your liking
Instructions
Put just enough water in your pot to cook your ramen. This is probably less than you think it has to be.
Add soup base and garlic to the water.
Add the lemon juice, tomato juice, or lemon/tomato slice to the water. The acid is necessary if you want to counteract the saltiness from the soup base.
Heat the water to boiling.
Add your vegetables (minus the spring onions) and your ramen brick. (Do not include the flavor packet that came with the ramen.)
Cook for three minutes, or until the noodles have your preferred consistency.
Pour into a bowl. If you used a slice of lemon or tomato, you may want to discard it at this point.
Top with spring onions and other seasonings, and serve.
Suggested additions
Tofu — For protein!
Miso paste — Add in with the soup base and garlic at the very start.
Soy sauce — Add in with the soup base and garlic at the very start.
Water chestnuts — These should go in at the very start, or they’ll be too firm in the end.
Cabbage — Shredded or chopped, not like a whole leaf. This should also go in fairly early, unless you like very crunchy cabbage in your ramen.
Celery — Celery in ramen sounds weird, but I always have way too much lying around, so I like to add it in.
MSG — Available in the US under the brand name Ajinomoto. Mix this in at the start, or at any time if you taste the broth and decide it needs a little something extra.