I received a package with a couple of varieties of Peruvian instant noodles last week, then one with even more the next as well as a TON of Brazilian ones! I have to say, I have the nicest readers and want to thank you for your continued support in sending samples I couldn’t source otherwise!
Today, it’s Gallina Picante, which is spicy chicken. Let’s hit it up!
Aji-no-men Sabor Gallina Picante – Peru
Detail of the packaging (click to enlarge). Contains chicken. To prepare, boil noodles in 500ml water for 3 minutes. Add in soup base. Finally, stir and enjoy!
The noodle block.
A dry sachet of soup base (watch me use this below on Instant Noodle Recipe Time).
Finished (click to enlarge). Added baked chicken with adobo, soft egg, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, fried garlic, and cilantro. Noodles have a nice, standard instant noodle chew to them. Broth is very much the usual salty chicken taste with a little tang and spice to the broth. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 7754487001670.
The second of the Fitmee varieties sent by Empire International – thanks again! I sampled the first a couple days ago and was very impressed – it was a kind of buldak dry version that was pretty good and only 150 calories! This one has a soto flavor and is – get this – only 60 calories! What’s soto? Here’s some info from Wikipedia –
In the Indonesian archipelago, soto is known by different names. In the local Javanese dialect, it is called soto, and the dish also reached Makassar where it is called coto. Soto is found to be most prevalent in Java, and suggested that the hearty soup was originated from that island, and over the years this dish branched off in an assorted array of soto varieties.[7]
Although soto was undoubtedly developed in the Indonesian archipelago and each region has developed its own distinctive soto recipes, some historians suggest that it was probably influenced by foreign culinary tradition, especially Chinese. Denys Lombard in his book Le Carrefour Javanais suggested that the origin of soto was a Chinese soup, caudo (Chinese: 草肚; pinyin: tsháu-tōo; literally “Tripe”), popular in Semarang among Chinese immigrants during colonial VOC era, circa 17th century.[8]
Another scholar suggests that it was more likely a mixture of cooking traditions in the region, namely Chinese, Indian, and native Indonesian cuisine.[9] There are traces of Chinese influence such as the use of bihun (rice vermicelli) and the preference for fried garlic as a condiment, while the use of turmeric suggests Indian influence. Another example is soto betawi from Jakarta uses minyak samin (ghee), which indicates Arab or Muslim Indian influences.[10] Another historian suggest that some soto recipe reflects the past condition of its people. Soto tangkar, which today is a meat soup, was mostly made from the broth of goat rib-cage bones (Betawi:tangkar) in the past because meat was expensive, or the common population of Batavia were too poor to afford some meat back then.[11] Soto recipes has been highly localized according to local tradition and available ingredients, for example in Hindu-majority island of Bali, soto babi (pork soto) can be found, since Hindu Balinese prefer pork while beef is seldom consumed, they also do not shared Indonesian Muslim halal dietary law that forbid the consumption of pork.
The meat soup dish influenced various regions and each developed its own recipes, with the ingredients being highly localized according to available ingredients and local cooking traditions. As a result, rich variants of soto were developed across Indonesia.
Alrighty – let’s see how this soup version comes out!
Fitmee Mi Instan Konyaku Rasa Soto – Indonesia
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Cook noodle block and vegetable sachet contents for 5 minutes in 400ml boiling water. Add all but shallot sachet in and stir. Garnish with shallot and enjoy!
The noodle block.
A dry sachet of soup base (watch the Instant Noodle Recipe Time video below for implementation of sachets).
A wet sachet of seasoned oil.
A dry sachet of vegetables.
Dry garnish sachet of fried shallot.
A final dry sachet of chili powder.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added lime, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, coriander, spring onion, Sambal Matah, egg, chili flake, and baked chicken. Okay, this is the real deal, folks. The konjac came out quite well – still somewhat extra springy, but it is just overwhelmed in such a great way by the broth. The broth has such a beautiful balance of lime, hints of spiciness and coconut and it just blew my mind so much I even forgot to add the shallot flake in there – which I tried separately and found to be pretty good. But I’ll try it again tomorrow because ITS ONLY 60 CALORIES!!! 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 8997006448993.
Okay, alright. It’s another Buldak spicy thing and this time its not topokki and ramen, it’s just topokki. What’s exciting about this is that this is the export version. I’m usually not happy about getting export versions; I want the local versions; te ones that people in their respective countries find at the store. But what’s cool is that this is now available in the United States – and I’ve seen it here recently. This is original Buldak Bokkeummyun flavor – there’s also a Carbo version as well. For those of you who are asking ‘what’s a topokki?!’ here’s a little info from Wikipedia –
Tteok-bokki (떡볶이) or stir-fried rice cakes is a popular Korean food made from small-sized garae-tteok (long, white, cylinder-shaped rice cakes) called tteokmyeon (떡면; “rice cake noodles”) or commonly tteok-bokki-tteok(떡볶이 떡; “tteok-bokki rice cakes”).[1][2] Fish cakes, boiled eggs, and scallions are some of the most commonly added ingredients. It can be seasoned with either spicy gochujang (chili paste) or non-spicy ganjang (soy sauce)-based sauce; the former being the most typical form,[3], while the latter is less common and sometimes called gungjung-tteok-bokki (royal court tteok-bokki). Today, variations also include curry-tteok-bokki, cream sauce-tteok-bokki, jajang-tteok-bokki, seafood-tteok-bokki, galbi-tteok-bokki and so on. Tteok-bokki is commonly purchased and eaten at bunsikjip (snack bars) as well as pojangmacha (street stalls). There are also dedicated restaurants for tteok-bokki, where it is referred to as jeugseog tteok-bokki (impromptu tteok-bokki).
Haemul-tteok-bokki, (해물떡볶이; “seafood tteok-bokki”) uses seafood as a sub ingredient.
Galbi-tteok-bokki (갈비떡볶이; “short ribs tteok-bokki”) is a tteok-bokki uses short ribs as an ingredient.
Ra-bokki (라볶이; “instant noodles tteok-bokki”) and jjol-bokki (쫄볶이; “chewy noodles tteok-bokki”), are quite similar. They both add noodles to tteok-bokki. ra-bokki and jjol-bokki differs from the kind of noodles added to tteok-bokki. ra-bokki adds ramyeon noodle, and jjol-bokki adds chewy noodles which are used to make jjol-myeon.
Alright – let’s cook it up and I’ll do my best to lay waste to it.
Samyang Foods Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Topokki – South Korea
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add topokki and sauce to the bowl. Add water to fill line (note it’s much lower than on most noole cups. Microwave at 1000W for 2 minutes and 30 seconds with the lid on. Finally, stir and enjoy!
The sextet of tines here are daunting! Check this out for a full list of forks – it’s really quite fascinating!
The pouch of topokki.
A wet sachet containing the spicy sauce.
Finished (click to enlarge). Chewy topokki is of good quality and plentiful. The sauce is sweet and very spicy. It’s tasty as well as hot – the heat level reminds me of the topokki buldak ramen they produce. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 8801073910270.
This is an interesting one. Made in China for the US market. I found this one at a Fred Meyer supermarket here in Lynnwood – the last place I’d expect to see something like this. It’s nice to see stores expanding these kinds of things. Let’s give it a try!
Jinmailang Cup Noodles Chicken & Mushroom Flavor – United States
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add in sachet contents and boiling water to line. Cover for 3 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
An included fork!
The noodle block.
A dry soup base sachet.
A wet seasoned oil sachet.
A vegetables dry sachet.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added soft egg, baked chicken, sansyo, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, and spring onion. The noodles were on the spongy side which was unfortunate. The broth had a slight chiekn flavor that was overridden by funky mushroom. Not among my favorites. 1.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 6921555527252.
A few months ago I did a Meet The Manufacturer series on Vite Ramen, but the packs I tried were prototypes and not this, the finished product for version 1.0 (version 1.1 will be coming soon and I’ll be giving that a try when it comes out). It’s a neat concept brought to life by Tim & Tom Zheng.
A lot of people found the idea of a healthy instant noodle very compelling – so much so that they netted a quarter of a million dollars on their Kickstarter campaign. What we have here is the culmination of lots of work by them.
These packs have a myriad of benefits, including lots of vitamins and minerals, 30g of protein, low sodium, low fat, and is an excellent source of fiber.
It also has something that’s hard for people to get – potassium. You can a decent amount in a banana, but eating enough bananas to meet the goal of potassium intake per day is going to have some side affects aside from the amount of sugar.This pack includes 25 percent of that.
As many of you know, I’ve been on a diet. I’ve been overweight most of my life. My doctor told me on October 18th, 2018 that I had high cholesterol, and pushed me to change my diet and exercise; something I’ve been told by doctors many times before. But I guess it was just the right time to do something about it. We got a jogging stroller and I started walking my daughter Miri on days my son has all day preschool. I also started using a fitbit and the My Fitness Pal app to track my intake and calorie burn.
I started slow; trying to get my step goal and trying to stay under the recommended calories for the day. It was hard at first, but I put myself in a good mindset and pushed forward. I started at 365lbs. I go back to the doctor on April 26th, 2019 – about 6 months afterwards for another blood test and cheup to see how I’ve done, and I think my doctor is going to be shocked. I haven’t weighed myself, but I’ve gone down 6 pants sizes. I had to skip walking a couple days after last week too – Monday I walked 9.5 miles, Tuesday 10.5 miles, and Thursday I walked almost 15 miles and hit 30,000 steps. I guess I need to get some walking shoes that are better than the ones I get at Walmart in Richmond BC for $30CAD! I really jacked up my feet…
But in a couple weeks, I’ll find out how much I weigh at the doctor and report on that. I’m pretty stoked – I’m down to around 1200~1500 calories per day and it’s no problem at this point. As far as when I review, I have the tiniest amount of noodles and broth to sample – the rest goes down the drain. But I think today I’ll figure one of these packs into my regime and see how it goes. Let’s get started.
Vite Ramen Soy Sauce Chicken Instant Noodle Soup – United States
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Take a look at the nutrition facts panel – it’s pretty monumental. Contains chicken. To prepare, add noodle block to 2 1/2 cups boiling water and cook 2 1/2 minutes. Add in sachet contents. Finally, stir and enjoy!
The noodle block.
A dry sachet.
The soup base.
A second dry sachet.
This is the ‘noodtrients’ powder. This is where the vitamins, minerals, and protein come into play.
A wet sachet.
Canola oil.
A clear garnish sachet.
A vegetable mixture with 8 different varieties.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added soft egg, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, baked chicken, black sesame seeds, and spring onion. I’m definitely seeing a difference in this from the prototype. The noodle has a nice chew and texture – a unique one which worked well. The broth is on the light side; it’s not a salty bomb, however it has a good thickness and gives a taste of actual chicken broth that I liked. Very happy with the changes in addition to all the protein, low sodium, fiber, and vitamin benefits. Innovative and fresh. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. No bar code.
This came by way of Robert over at www.dadbert.com – thanks! I’ve never seen hide nor hare of this variety ever before – anywhere. Test market in Kentucky? Perhaps. It looks like these are a meat version of the Very Veggie really; lots of meat instead of vegetables. My thought – screw it – I mean put lots of meat AND vegetables in there. In fact, screw that – do a retort pooch with meat and vegetables – now you’re talking! Nissin – you’re here in the United States already – use real meat! Retort pouches are the salvation – they shall bring a whole new age to the domestic instant noodle industry in America! At least that’s my vision. Let’s check it out!
Nissin Cup Noodles Soup’D Up Zesty Chicken Flavor – United States
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains chicken. To prepare, . UPC bar code.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added soft egg, spring onion, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, and grilled chicken. The noodles came out pretty well. The broth was very thin and could have used a little more zestiness. Vegetables did well, however chicken chunks while of a decent size weren’t completely done in the center. 2.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code
Another one from the Real Canadian SuperStore! Man, I just ran my knee into a metal bar that supports my desk. That really hurt. I’ve been doing a lot of walking yesterday – on my birthday last week I did 18,000+ steps – yesterday I did over 15,000. I’m knee deep into trying to walk as much as possible. I think by the time this post comes out I’ll have lost a lot more weight. I started in November, 2018. I was wearing size 48 pants – yeah… It’s March and I’m down to 42, so we shall see where I’m at then… Been trying to stick around 1,200 calories a day too… I’m going to bake some chicken to go with this one. I like chicken. Let’s look at this one.
Rooster Chili Chicken Flavour Noodle Soup – Canada
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add 280ml boiling water and sachet contents. Cover for 3 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added egg, chicken baked with Neo~Essence Pepper Salt & NuTek Salt For Life, spring onion, and Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts. Noodles are pretty good – nice gauge and hydrated well – not spongy. The broth has a satisfying chili flavor to it – not extremely spicy by any stretch. Works well. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 061483036801.
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘Chicken based shoyu ramen – the kind that makes you cherish your memory eating your first shoyu ramen. (natsukoshi roughly means nostalgic). This is like the ramen you see being waten at yatai food stalls set up on streets by characters in some anime. Chopped chashu (roast pork) goes well with this simple, most enjoyed ramen.’
As of late, I’ve really been into chicken. Baked chicken with some seasonings in particular. Let’s give this one a try…
New Touch Natsukashi Shoyu Ramen – Japan
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains pork and chicken. To prepare, add sachet contents and boiling water to line. Cover for 3 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, sliced chashu, soft egg, spring onion, sansyo, sesame seeds. Noodles come out very well – nice hydration and chew. The broth had a good shoyu character to it with chicken notes. Bits of vegetable and the odd shrimp floating about. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4903088009537.
Here’s something new from MAma Pat’s – cups! I recently reviewed the chicken taco variety and was disappointed that they removed the vegetable sachets from their packs. Well, they’re still in these cups and that should be interesting. Let’s give it a try!
Mama Pat’s Chicken Fajita Flavor Instant Ramen Noodles – United States
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add in sachet contents and boiling water to fill line. Cover for 3~5 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added spring onion, grilled chicken, Cholula hot sauce and black sesame seeds. Noodles have a round shape and after 4 minutes we reasonably hydrated. They didn’t seem to work with the broth as well as I’d hoped. Broth has a chicken and smoky taste to it which was unique and interesting. Vegetables worked alright. 2.75 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 757170500181.
All I can think about when I see this one is Super Chicken. That in turn makes me think of Ice Cube. Which in turn reminds me of the days when I would ride on my mountain bike throughout the streets of Anacortes with a big boom box on the back blasting music and smoking cigarettes.
While that’s kind of a unique journey down memory lane, this is a unique one too – chicken tom yum. I’ve never reviewed a chicken tom yum when I think about it. At least I don’t think so. I’d look it up but I’m on a time budget here; it’s just after 5am and I have to get everything all wrapped up pretty quick and I’m going to walk with my daughter in her stroller adorned with blinking lights and a Bluetooth speaker which I can blast loud music in. Same deal, different decade. Let’s check this one out.
Yum Yum Instant Cup Noodles Tom Yum Chicken Super Flavour – Thailand
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Unsure if it contains meat – check for yourself. To prepare, add in boiling water to fill line and cover 3 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, coriander, Dua Belibis chilli sauce, and grilled chicken. The noodle is thin and slightly brittle – a standard of most Thai varieties and welcome here. The broth seems like a lemony tom yum – thin and bright. I’m not getting a chicken hit on this but it’s good. 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 8850250008767.
Here’s the second of the two initial varieties of the Momosan Ramen range from Sapporo Ichiban. These feature a collaboration with Iron Chef Morimoto , one is a tonkotsu and this is the Tokyo Chicken. Let’s crack into it and give it a try!
Sapporo Ichiban Momosan Ramen Tokyo Chicken – United States
Detail of the package (click to enlarge). Contains fish. To prepare, add noodles to 450ml boiling water and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in sachet contents. Finally, stir and enjoy!
The noodle block.
A dry sachet.
A light powder.
A wet sachet.
Seasoned oil.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, spring onion, soft egg, black sesame seeds, baked chicken with Neo-Essence pepper salt and Nutek Salt for Life. Noodles came out very nicely with a nice bite to them and good quantity. The broth is thick – kind of like a chicken shio and very rich. Lots of strong flavor. 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 076186550028.
Today we have a Zenpop.JP variety – so what’s Zenpop? They’re a subscription service for all things Japanese! Definitely, check them out. By the way, use coupon code RAMENRATER to get $2 off! Here’s what they had to say about this one – ‘This Daikichi series cup noodle is common in Hokkaido. Daikichi means “excellent luck” in Japanese. Why don’t you wish for some good luck in the new year by eating Daikichi cup noodle? Chicken based salty soup with kelp broth and other ingredients such as flower-shaped toasted gluten cakes and fluffy eggs will bring you luck!’
Lucky gluten flowers! I’m on it.
Acecook Kelp Broth Shio Ramen – Japan
Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Contains pork and chicken. To prepare, add boiling water to fill line and cover 3 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, green onion, black sesame seeds, and habanero togarashi. Noodles hydrated nicely. Thin and soft. Broth was alright but nothing that blew my mind in any way, shape, or form. A salty and slightly kelpy broth which was tasty. It just wasn’t a wow. The little gluten flowers were like soft bread. 2.5 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4901071246037.
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