Ingredients:

- water

- broth (vegetable, beef, or chicken)

- chili oil

- sesame oil

- garlic, a big heaping
spoonful (crushed, minced, or paste)

- powdered ginger

- Ramen noodles, 3-4 packages
(noodles only! no flavor packets!)

- chicken, beef or pork, cut
into strips or cubes (OPTIONAL!)

- collard greens, strips
(about 4 large leaves)

- mushrooms, sliced (I used
baby bella)

- green onions/scallions,
chopped (maybe 2-3 onion stalks)

1. Start with a pot of water. For the size of the pot I
use, I fill it about 1/3 to 1/2 way.

2. Add the same amount of your preferred broth as there
is water.

3. Next, add chili oil and sesame oil to taste. (I tend
to use a lot.)

4. Next, add garlic (I prefer crushed/garlic paste, but tonight
all I had was minced, which will work), and then powdered ginger.

5. Stir.

6. Bring all of this to HIGH heat.

7. Next you will add the Ramen noodles. (My husband likes a ridiculous amount of noodles, so I usually use 3-4 packages.) I actually add the noodles before bringing everything to a boil; I find it doesn't make much of a difference if you add them now or after the soup mixture is boiling.

As for those nasty flavor packets, just throw those away.

**If you want to add a meat, now is usually when I add it, while the noodles are softening. Or, you can add it once the noodles are brought to a boil.**

8. Once the noodles are boiling, start adding the vegetables. (When adding the vegetables, you want to start with the vegetable that will take the longest to cook: I usually put in the collard greens first,

then the mushrooms,

then the green onions.)

9. Let everything cook for maybe 2 minutes, stirring thoroughly.

10. Then turn off the heat, and allow the soup to cool enough so you don't burn yourself when you eat it.

Serve and enjoy!

I frequently make very similar soups, but I use fresh ginger instead of dried, or else I use ginger paste from a jar. I store ginger in the freezer, and it is easy to grate when frozen. Sometimes I use chili oil, but more often I add fresh chilies instead, especially when I have them in my back yard - right now I do not. I use bok choy instead of collard greens, and I often add Kaffir lime leaves and/or juice and zest, and I also have Yuzu fruit in my freezer and sometimes add juice and zest - mostly zest because the fruit is mostly seeds. I have chives growing continuously in my yard, and so I use those instead of green onions at the end and often garnish with cilantro, if I have that in my yard.

I do use the dried ramen noodles, but I also add a couple of balls of rice noodles, just for a bit of variety. They come in golf ball size balls in a package of 16 or so and are therefore easy to add it, if I need more noodles. I also often add egg drop. Sometimes I will season with Japanese black vinegar (I do not like Chinese black vinegar - the Japanese has a better flavor) if I do not use lime or yuzu juice.

I make these soups because I have so many of the ingredients in my yard, although I need to replace the lemongrass (I use lemongrass from a tube for now). I always have Kaffir lime leaves, and generally have the limes as well, but the yuzu makes fruit only seasonally, and so I freeze most of it.

Sometimes I will use dried mushrooms and add the soaking water to the soup. I always have dried Shiitake mushrooms on hand, as they are inexpensive at the Japanese market that I go to. I tend to make Japanese or Thai versions of the soup and sometimes add shrimp to it.

Lars: You mention some very tasty ideas! I'll have to try some of them.

I do sometimes make the soup with egg (a friend just reminded me of that last night, actually). I have also used cilantro, and bok choy as the leafy green. (I personally just really like the flavor of collard greens.) I've never tried fresh ginger/ginger paste. I'll have to look into that. I haven't used any type of vinegar (Japanese or Chinese), but I have used soy sauce in a pinch; it wasn't too bad. Can I find those vinegars at a regular grocery store, or would I do better visiting the asian markets? (There's a Chinese grocery store maybe an hour or so from me.) I don't think I've ever used fresh chilis, but when I first started experimenting with this recipe, I used to Dynasty Hot Chili Oil, which had chopped chilis in it; I've since been unable to find that product in stores, so I switched to straight up chili oil. I have used other noodle types besides the Ramen; I just find the Ramen to be cheapest and easiest to get my hands on.

I don't know what yuzu is, so I'll have to look that up.

I'm a little jealous that you have so many ingredients in your back yard. :) I'm only now starting to put together a vegetable garden. Maybe I'll plant some chilis!

Thanks so much for your comment!

chaparralgirl

Japanese black vinegar is difficult to find - I only find it in Japanese stores, and what I have found in Chinese markets is not good at all.

Yuzu is a Japanese citrus tree that is hardy to zone 7 - it survives frosts (although I never have any), and so you can probably grow it as well.

I too make a similar dish quite often. I often use ground pork (locally grown and pigs on pasture) or left over pork chop or spare ribs (from the same farmer)as well, and use rice noodles rather than ramen.

The collard greens have a more bitter, assertive flavor than bok choy. My DH and I love the stronger flavored greens as well. A good Asian sub for collard greens would be baby gai choy, but only the larger Chinese or SE Asian markets would probably have them:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1067&bih=595&q=gai+choy&oq=gai+choy&gs_l=img.3..0l4j0i5i30j0i24l5.790.1643.0.1979.8.8.0.0.0.0.110.530.6j1.7.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..1.7.528.DEcYIROO2Tc

laceyvail: My husband's a meat-eater, so I'll have to try the pork for him. I think I've only made it with chicken and beef before. Also, I THINK I've used rice noodles before (I've tried a number of different types), but it might be time to try it again.

jakkom: Gai choy. Hm. I'll have to look into that. My in-laws are from China and Taiwan and frequent the Chinese grocery stores; next time we visit them, I'll ask them about gai choy. I look forward to trying it!

I make a similar dish but never the dried noodles favored by college kids. In the packets. Very processed and zero food value. They are fried and dried and shelf stable full of preservatives. Other ingredients are fresh so no biggie in the noodle dept.

I just prefer going fresh in the noodles as well. Many rice noodle choices out there.

I've been growing a Chinese green called Gailan for several years now, and I really love it for a range of reasons. It's a lot like very young, sweet broccoli but you eat the little heads, stems and leaves as you would with Broc. raab. It's a direct sow, so you don't have to start in the house like broccoli. It freezes much better than broccoli and is never mushy after being frozen, and it's terrific in the kind of soup this thread started with as well as in many other dishes. I recommend it to anyone with a garden. Both Johnny's Selected Seeds and Fedco have good varieties of it.