ramen at home

my husband's ramen (above) with a touch of sambal oelek

It's exciting that the Japanese ramen craze has invaded big cities in the US over the past few years. I remember growing up in Manila enjoying many variations of it. However, I had one particular Filipino noodle soup favorite popularly called "mami" in Manila which my mother used to make for the family. The fresh egg noodles were store-bought but she would make all the toppings from scratch. These days, our laid back weekend meals at home usually mean very simple cooking involved with instant ramen soups ranking high in our list :-)

We had a chance to visit my favorite Asian market on our way back home from a recent vacation. I was excited to see some fresh vegetables like enoki mushrooms, baby bok choy and fragrant Chinese chives that aren't usually available at the grocery store. They also sell them at a very reasonable price. These vegetables were perfect for ramen.

Shown above, I arranged the cooked ramen noodles, blanched baby bok choy strips, thinly sliced chives, enoki mushrooms and eggs in a bowl. I just rinsed the enoki mushrooms, they didn't have to be blanched. Pour boiling ramen broth over the arranged ingredients. Serve immediately and enjoy!