I have a terrible weakness for noodles in unusual eating scenarios. I love noodles rolled up in an omelette, baked in a frittata or noodlecakes. So last night while browsing food news on my iPad, when I came across this headline "Ramen Burger takes over Cronut as the new food craze!"; I had to investigate further. An hour of googling various sources revealed that the Ramen Burger was Ramen noodles shaped into a burger bun and fried. These ramen buns were then used to sandwich succulent meat patties. The buzz was started by Keizo Shimamoto who invented and introduced the Shoyu Ramen Burger at the Brooklyn Smorgasburg food market a few days ago with hybrid food enthusiasts queuing up to get their hands on one of only 150 burgers that were promised. I wasn't going to Brooklyn anytime soon and who knows how long fads last. I had to make it!
So I traipsed to my Asian grocers this morning and bought a few packets of ramen noodles and some fresh hard tofu. A few hours later, Nick and I sat down to a messy meal of delicious vegetarian ramen burgers. I must warn you, these are fiddly to eat. But nothing that a good set of fork and knife can't tackle. On the plus side, they are a breeze to make and quite fun too. I made a gorgeous peanut butter and miso glaze for the tofu patties. We layered our burger with Asian greens and doused it with my favourite Sriracha sauce. We loved the burgers! Loved the taste, loved the eating-by-a-food-truck-at-the-local-festival flavour to the whole dish. This was my first attempt and certainly won't be my last. Before the year is up, you will see more ramen burger recipes from me. And although the assembly and specs weren't perfect, I wanted to share these with you because they tasted amazing. *Must remember for next time* Thinner ramen buns and thinner patties!
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TOFU MISO RAMEN BURGER
An overnight hybrid food craze, the ramen burger is buns made of fried ramen noodles and a patty made of miso glazed tofu served with Asian greens and hot sauce.
Makes - 2 burgers
Ingredients
2 packets dry ramen noodles (220g)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons cornflour
fresh hard tofu
oil for pan frying
red radish or Asian greens to serve
Sriracha sauce to serve
for the glaze
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup peanut oil
2 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons red miso paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 clove of garlic
1 inch piece ginger
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Bring salted water to a boil in a saucepan (approximately 1 litre water with 1 teaspoon salt). Cook noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Drain completely. Refresh in cold water. Drain again. Noodles should be al-dente and strands should not stick or be lumpy. Add lightly beaten egg, salt, pepper and cornflour. Mix well. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Remove from the fridge. Pack 1 cup of noodle mixture in a flat bottomed bowl or ramekin. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium. Flip the noodle filled ramekin and place on hot frying pan. Cook for a minute. Remove the ramekin gently. Continue pan frying the noodle bun, flipping once gently to cook the other side. Repeat with remaining noodle mixture until you have 4 noodle buns.
Place all ingredients of the miso glaze in the bowl of a processor and process until a smooth paste forms. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium. Place hard tofu squares on the pan. Brush glaze on top of the tofu with a pastry brush. Flip and cook the other side. Repeat brushing with glaze as necessary.
Place cooked noodle bun on a plate. Top with some Sriracha sauce or hot sauce of your choice. Place roasted tofu patty. Top with sliced radish or favourite Asian salad. Add more miso glaze. Top with another noodle bun. Enjoy!
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This would be a great alternative burger to add to Food on Friday: Burgers - hope you stop by. Cheers
I started to hyperventilate when I saw this recipe on Pinterest. You are brilliant!!!!! I grew up with "Mama," and I can't wait to share this recipe with my friends in Thailand. We are going to get a kick out of making this recipe when I visit home later this year.
Btw, I can't wait to get my hands-on your book; though I have to wait awhile as I am in the U.S. (already pre-ordered, I am so psyched!!!!)
What a clever idea!!! Looks really interesting. I am going to give this a go, but perhaps will substitute the tofu either with beef or pork patty instead.
I would love to eat one of these ramen burger babies. They just look like so much FUN!
I have never ever seen such a burger before!! Awesome!
Love these!!! This is just genius...
I have a question for you Sneh, will these noodles hold their texture if made is little advance n assembled later?
Either way I'm making these like ASAP ...Love them!
Yes, they will. If you make these way in advance, add the egg only later at assembly time other wise the egg might dry up. Hope that helps 🙂
ahahaha that's so awesome!!!!
What a great idea, these ramen burgers! I'm looking forward to giving them a try, haven't heard about them yet so thanks for sharing about them. Beautiful post!!
Such a fun and genius idea...Love it. My boys would eat enjoy these. Thank youu..
These trends are hilarious! It looks like you made a great copy!
Awee....what a funfilled idea to use noodles and Tofu...my son (noodle lover) is gonna thanks you a million, Sneh!
Woah! That's kinda out there. But I do love fried noodles so I can see this working - I'd want lots of lovely sauce with it though. Great pics, Sneh 😀
Okay, that's fun food for anyone. Nobody could eat that without laughing. 🙂 I looks delicious too.
My first thought was these look totally weird. (Mind you I was that much taken with the whole cronut idea either) but by the end of your post you'd almost convinced me to try them, but I'm think I'm just taken with your peanut and miso glaze which I will absolutely try.
That is such a great idea. You are genius! I bet it taste wonderful.
Cheers,
Rosa
I read the same article and was thinking "what the?" followed quickly by "I need one in my life ASAP." Yours looks fantastic!
I was totally going to make a ramen burger this weekend! I too saw the hype, and was totally sold on the concept. I was planning a pork patty, with coleslaw and Japanese wasabi mayonnaise...mmm, yum!