We all use seasonings to enhance the flavors of our food. Vanilla tastes more like vanilla with some sugar, and there’s something about mushrooms that just soak up salt to give that extra pow. Places like Trader Joe’s even make spice mixes that are carefully built blends of seasonings in the correct proportions to give your food multiple dimensions. While all of these options are great, we at the Clog like to think out of the box. Here are some ways you can spice up your life with the most important, yet most underrated, part of ramen: the seasoning pack.
On potato chips
While you have chip flavors like pizza and cheese, the true potato extravaganza lies in a ramen-flavored crisp. Simply put the powder seasoning into a classic, plain chip pack and shake it until your arms ache (the bonus to this one is that you also get a workout in before a great snack). Behold — a ramen chip! We at the Clog are firm supporters of this spud experiment and even recommend using different flavors of potato chip base for the more adventurous. Be it cool ranch, salt and vinegar or sour cream and onion, a pairing with ramen is difficult to hate!
In stir fry
This may seem convoluted, and even sacrilegious to some, but well-cooked vegetables covered in the already balanced spice blend from a ramen pack can round off your whole dish. Something to be mindful of in this experiment is the amount of salt you’re using — since you don’t know exactly how much is in the seasoning pack, it can be easy to over-salt your dish. Never fear, however, because a drop or two of white vinegar is all you need to tone down its flavor.
In fried rice
Think of this as a combination of the stir fry and your OG ramen. With the carbs from the rice and the nutrition from the veggies, this makes a dream-worthy comfort food. Add in a ramen seasoning pack, and you’re escalating a great dish to unforeseen levels! For the optimal combination of flavors likely to be enhanced by the seasoning, we recommend using corn, mushroom, egg and beans. Of course, this can be adjusted according to your preferences, as long as you keep in mind the different sorts of textures and flavors you want added in your dish.
On toast
If you’ve grown beyond the use of peanut butter or jam on your bread in the mornings, a pack of ramen seasoning might just be the way to go for you. With a little bit of butter on the bread to make the powder stick, the flavors from the spice mix can take you straight to Asia without the effort of making a traditional breakfast like dumplings or congee. Additionally, the salt and antioxidants in the spices let you kick your day off healthily, ensuring that you have a good balance of electrolytes throughout the day.
As a salad dressing
While ramen may not strike you as a way to be healthy (unless you’re one of those people who can’t find the time to eat otherwise), the spices in it can be just the thing to liven up your otherwise boring bowl of vegetables. Think of it as an Asian salad dressing — with some ramen seasoning, olive oil and vinegar (you could use black vinegar if you want to go super traditional) covering the otherwise boring ingredients, it’d be hard to still hate a salad.
Ramen is great, but it can be a little boring on the daily, so we hope you use the ideas above to get that ramen dosage through a more creative means. Happy eating!
