Comforting Homemade Ramen

As you may already know, Kimberly and I are currently living in two different cities. We're not separated by anything particularly tragic but damn I miss that crazy vegan! Things being as they are, however, we have decided to continue blogging separately, and this is my first solo post. I'm slightly nervous - who is going to filter out all of my bad jokes? - but excited, because I think you'll like this recipe. I ate it the other night and I've craved it every night since, so I take that as a good sign.

I am the omnivore of our very catchy title about the omnivore and the vegan eating what they love and loving what they eat. So you may be thinking to yourself, "Kate is without her vegan better half. Kate is now gonna bring the cheese, and she's gonna bring the meat, and she's gonna bring it big." If you are thinking something to that affect, however, I regret to inform you that you will be somewhat disappointed by this post. And probably all subsequent posts. You see, our very catchy title is not entirely accurate anymore, as I am a recent convert. That's right, I am no longer an omnivore. Try to feed me cow, goat, or even a bug and I will politely turn them down (unless you in some way gravely offend me in the process in which case I might turn them down impolitely). 

Kimberly and I still have differing dietary choices - despite my genuine and deep love of vegan food, I have yet to find something that would replace the intensely comforting late night snack of cheesy scrambled eggs wrapped in a warm tortilla or paired with thick slices of good bread. But we continue to share fundamental elements of our food philosophies: our insistence that everyone should have access to real, healthy, and culturally significant foods that, as woo-woo as it sounds, feel right to them; our focus on taking time for good food; and our intense enthusiasm for eating. 

I'd love to say that my decision to become a vegetarian emerged out of some sort of foodie spiritual revelation but the fact of the matter is, it was made after seeing a movie. Not a documentary, not even an Indie flick. It was a go to the local cinema, eat a giant tub of popcorn and watch a movie kind of movie. Anyways, I have for some time subscribed to the idea that if you can't kill an animal yourself, up close and personal, then you probably shouldn't be eating animals. And as an omnivore I often asked myself if I could kill an animal. What clicked for me watching the movie that night was how much I hope that I couldn't. 

For me this a very personal choice. I do not think that everyone and their mom needs to be vegetarian. I don't think that it's right for everyone. To tell the absolute truth I'm not even 100% sure that it's right for me. I had this mystical vision of vegetarianism in which as soon as I said the words aloud to Kimberly, I would be inducted into the secret vegetarian club and suddenly all meat would repulse me, but that's not the case. I still crave meat. The other day my mom was cooking a steak and it smelled incredible and I almost cracked. And I catch myself feeling guilty, like I'm somehow betraying the vegetarian code by wanting to eat meat. 

But then I realize that guilt goes completely against my food philosophy, the most basic value of which is having a positive relationship with myself, my own body, and the food I eat. It involves acknowledging what I want and not feeling guilty about it.  In fact, guilt can be one of the biggest obstacles to me living out my food philosophy. So when I crave meat I am not going to feel guilty. I will continue to choose not to act on it as long as I feel like being a vegetarian is right for me and I'll keep loving what I eat. 

I guess the moral I'm getting at here is that whatever you eat, and wherever you are in your relationship to food and with your body (because I'm certain that after reading our blog, you, our faithful readers, now use the term "food relationship" without so much as a smirk or eye-roll), one of the most basic and important things you can do is show yourself grace.

Now to the recipe. This recipe is inspired by the man pictured below. I am a little in love with the man pictured below. His name is Gong Yoo and he is all kinds of adorable. One of my not-guilty pleasures is watching Korean dramas and Gong Yoo is one of my favorite actors. Watch "First Shop of Coffee Prince" and you'll see why.

Anyways, in Korean dramas, between the angst and the love triangles and the freaky-friday body switching, there is much eating of ramen. Hence, I was craving ramen, but not the packaged kind. I wanted real, homemade ramen. Ramen that would have the same comforting broth but that would actually make you feel like you were eating real food. I experimented with several ramen recipes and wasn't quite satisfied. I was trying too hard to pack the bowl full of too many flavors. The ramen I liked best ended up being the simplest combination - steaming the veggies instead of sautéing them to keep their flavor clean and fresh, seasoning the tofu with nothing other than salt and pepper, and thereby allowing the rich broth to carry the dish. I got a couple of packages of instant ramen, threw out the spice packets, boiled up the noodles, made the broth, piled on veggies, tofu, a drizzle of sriracha and hoisin sauce and got a big, colorful, comforting bowl of ramen.

Homemade Ramen Broth

4 cups vegetable broth
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (or to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely minced

1 Package Instant Ramen
Assorted vegetables -  you can basically use anything in your fridge.
Tofu
Optional toppings: lime, cilantro, sriracha, hoisin sauce, green onions

1. Combine all ingredients for the broth and heat on medium-high heat.
2. Allow broth to maintain a low simmer for at least 20 minutes.
3. Sauté tofu in hot canola oil. Season with salt and pepper while cooking.
4. Remove tofu from pan and clean off any excess oil. Add 1/4-1/2 water to the same hot pan and add vegetables.
5. Allow the water to cook off and check veggies. Turn off the heat if done. If not, add more water.
6. While cooking the veggies, cook instant ramen noodles according to package instructions.
7. Drain noodles.
8. Add noodles, then veggies and tofu, then broth to a bowl and add toppings of your choosing.