I know we're supposed to eat healthy food and all, but there are just some things that are absolutely irresistible to my taste buds. One of those things is instant noodles.
I like eating instant noodles so much, I can even roughly recall the first time I ever ate instant noodles. I was about 8 or 9 years old and it was past midnight. My mom was up in the kitchen cooking some spicy curry flavoured Maggi Mee in a small beat up looking pot. I could smell the fragrant soup wafting in to the bedroom, so I crept out and asked for some.
One taste and I was hooked.
Since then, I've never stopped eating instant noodles. Through the various upheavals in my life, whether moving to the US and back to Singapore; whether through middle school, secondary school, high school, college or work; whether I've been as happy as a bird or sad as a poodle (what? Lol) instant noodles have always been a source of comfort to me.
However, I am not oblivious to its unhealthy side.
My parents have always lectured me on the detrimental effects of eating too much instant noodles. It could be hair loss, mental retardation, ageing skin or even DEATH (my dad told me a story about a person in China who ate instant noodles for every meal for 2 weeks. He died afterwards)
Because of the MSG or monosodium glutamate, my dad would often tell me not to finish all the soup too.
Still, I love me a cup of hot spicy soup and noodles! The best part about it is that it's SO CONVENIENT and FAST to cook. (I also had some environmental issues with instant noodles a few years ago, but I'm over them now... :D)
Now I try to limit my instant noodle intake to once every fortnight, but sometimes that goes out the window and I end up finishing the entire packet of 5 or 6 within a week.
Nevertheless, after all these years of eating instant noodles, I've developed a real picky taste for what's good and what's not. Though my palate slants toward noodles that are spicy or salty, there are some other ones that I really enjoy as well.
This is 老坛酸菜牛肉面 by 统一 (Lao Tan pickled vegetables and beef noodles by TongYi)
It's a relatively new brand and flavour to me.
The first time I tried it was this past August when I was in China and Annie recommended it to me. I'm not sure if the one I tried in China was from this same exact brand, but it's the same flavour anyway.
The instant noodles comes packaged in a big paper bowl.
Inside are three packets of flavouring and a small white plastic fork.
The silver packet contains the main MSG flavouring, as well as dried pieces of fat and veggie garnish. The purple packet contains the pickled cabbage and the red packet has the chilli oil and sauce.
Just put them all together in the bowl.
My favourite is the pickled cabbage.
It's so delicious, I can even eat it on its own.
The pickles basically taste the same as the kiam cai (salted vegetable) that you can buy in wet markets in Singapore.
On the side, I would have a pot of water boiling. When the water starts to bubble profusely, I'll pour the water into the bowl to fill it halfway.
Most people would add more water, like maybe to at least three-quarters of the bowl. But I like my soup to taste stronger so I put less water.
If you're the type that likes to put eggs in your instant noodles, you can put them in at this point. Hide it under the noodles so that it gets to cook properly.
Notice that I didn't tear the cover flap off completely or all the way. I only tear a little bit so that I can cover it back up after putting in the boiling water.
After about a minute, I start to stir and mix all the ingredients together, then I cover it up again for another minute or so.
Ta-da! It's ready for consumption!
I just love the taste of these noodles.
Although the soup isn't as spicy as I usually like it to be, its salty-sourness is balanced just right. My favourite activity hereafter is looking for those juicy bits of pickled veggies swimming in the noodles.
Om nom nom nom nom!
By the way, they don't sell this brand and flavour in regular supermarkets in Singapore. I actually stumbled upon it at the mama shop under Blk 8, Jalan Batu. It's located somewhere in the back of the petrol stations near Katong CC. Otherwise, you can always try it out when you're in China. I saw it in most shops when I was there.
Thanks Annie for introducing me to this bowl of LOVE!!!!!
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