Bacon and Eggs Ramen

This is the ultimate comfort food that I honestly think you could eat any time of the day. I’ve made lots of different ramen noodle recipes over the years with favorites coming from Anthony Bourdain and Tieghan Gerard. Most recipes require some type of chili or curry paste but those can be hard to find w/out traces of peanut in them and with my allergy I try to avoid them unless I’m certain. You can get a lot of flavor from dried spices so I opted to use a curry powder, Chinese 5 spice or Japanese 7 spice would be even better. It’s hard to make a ramen noodle dish that isn’t good so feel free to use some creative license. My pantry has been cleaned out and our local grocery store doesn’t carry much in the international department so I made do with some fairly pedestrian ingredients.

What you need:

-1 onion, sliced

-1 red bell pepper, sliced

-1 cup of sliced mushrooms

-4 cloves of garlic, minced

-3 tbsp thinly sliced fresh ginger

-1 tsp curry powder

-3 strips of good quality bacon, sliced into 1 inch pieces

-4 or 5 cups of chicken broth

-2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

-2 tbsp rice vinegar

-2 tbsp hot sesame oil.

- 1 1/2 cups mixed green vegetables (spinach, snow peas, edamame)

-1 10 oz package or ramen noodles

-cilantro, hot pickled peppers, pickled radishes, carrot shreds, scallions, sriracha sauce for garnish

-4 soft boiled eggs (the eggs in my photo are slightly more done than my preference....I messed up! A good 5 minute egg is perfect, will cook more in the broth).

Put 1 tbsp cooking oil in a large stock pot and add bacon and cook over medium heat until browned. Do not drain the fat, its not much and it adds tons of flavor : ) Next throw in your onions, pepper, mushrooms, garlic, and ginger sauté those until they’re soft and the aromas from the garlic and ginger are really fragrant. Add in your curry powder and stir a few times for 2-3 minutes. Next add your chicken broth, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil and simmer for about 15-20 minutes to allow your flavor to develop. When you are ready to eat, turn off the stove add your ramen and green vegetables and let steep for about 5 minutes. Serve in a big bowl and garnish with egg, cilantro, hot sauce, etc. Slurp away!