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| A homemade ramen burger, yesterday |
I first read about ramen burgers - a burger where the
traditional bread bun is replaced with a disc of instant noodles - a few years
ago. Not being a big burger fan, I dismissed the idea as a fad, all the
time remaining a little intrigued at the outrageous concept of using cheap
noodles to prepare a dish which could doubtless sell for a tenner a throw. Then, I found myself in Greenwich market one
rainy Sunday with time to kill.
Greenwich market has an excellent street food section, with freshly cooked and expertly prepared dishes from the four corners of the globe and,
as I let my sense of smell guide me around the intriguing array of delicious
flavours, I noticed someone eating a ramen burger! Curiously, I ordered one up and started chatting with
the stall owner, watching intently as he prepared it. Needless to say it was delicious, and although he wouldn't
divulge the secret of the burger buns, and rightly so (you're never too old to learn something new!) a little research and a free evening was all I needed to
start playing...
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the buns:
2 packets of instant noodles, flavour
sachets discarded
1 egg
Sesame seeds, optional
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying
For the Vietnamese pork burgers:
284g minced pork (vegetarians, you could of course use tofu or mushrooms instead)
spring onions, finely sliced
a drop of sherry vinegar
crushed chillies
minced ginger and garlic
1 tsp cornflour
soy sauce
salt and pepper
1 egg
A few coriander stems, finely chopped
Oil for frying
For the salad:
Red onion or shallots, finely diced
Carrot, finely diced
Cucumber, seeds removed and finely diced
Radish, finely diced
Coriander, finely chopped
Lime juice
Red chillies, chopped
Fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil to
dress the salad according to preference
Sriracha sauce to taste
Preparing the Vietnamese
pork burgers:
Mix together the pork mince with the other ingredients. Add the dry ingredients first and the liquids last in order to
ensure that the mixture isn't too moist. Also, take good care to ensure that the vegetables are chopped as finely as
possible, so that the burgers will retain their shape when cooking. Large pieces of spring onion and ginger are tasty but will
cause your burgers to fall apart! Cover
and leave to chill until ready to cook.
Two hours should be enough, but the flavours will develop better if left
overnight.
Preparing the noodle
buns:
Take a large pan and fill with water. Bring to the boil and remove from the
heat. Gently place the noodles into the
hot water and leave to soak for approximately five minutes. Don't bring it back to the boil, and don't
add the flavour sachets. After five
minutes, drain and allow to cool slightly.
Meanwhile beat one egg with a pinch of salt and pepper; pour
this over the noodles and stir well to ensure an even coating of egg. Add sesame seeds if desired. Place the mixture in the refrigerator, and allow to cool for a further
30 minutes.
Why use instant noodles?
It's all in the texture; when cooled, the noodles bind together well
because of the starch they contain. I
would imagine you could use other egg noodles but you might want to soak them for
longer. If you are allergic to wheat you
might want to try using rice vermicelli.
The salad:
While the noodles cool, it's time to prepare the pickled
vegetable salad! Mix together the
ingredients in a bowl with a little vinegar and sesame oil. Add chillies and black pepper to taste and, most importantly of all, the juice of a whole lime. Refrigerate until ready to serve. If you don't want a spicy dressing, you could
of course use sweet chilli sauce; depending on your level of artistry you could
even knock up a few ribbons of radish, carrot and cucumber which would make for
a far less messy eating experience!
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| Ramen Burger (detail); I probably should have made either a bigger burger or a smaller bun |
Now it's time to prepare the burger buns. Take a small single-egg frying pan; you could
also use a pastry-cutting ring or metallic burger mould to shape the buns if you only have a large
frying pan. Over a medium heat, warm
through a few drops of sesame oil and add a small handful of chilled
noodles. Press the noodles right down to
compress them into a burger bun shape; you may even want to weight them
down with a pint glass for the first minute or two of cooking! Leave to cook gently on a low heat for five minutes or so,
occasionally checking the bottom of the pan to make sure that your noodles
haven't burned too much or stuck, and that they have formed a firm shape and don’t fall
apart when lifted with a spatula. When the buns are cooked on the underneath,
flip them over into a larger, slightly oiled pan, uncooked side face down, for a further minute or two. Repeat
process until you have enough half-buns to make a burger per person.
Gently fry the burgers until cooked and arrange them onto a half bun. Top with a swirl of sriracha sauce, a good dollop
of the salad and place another half-bun on top.
Prepare to be amazed, and have a clean shirt handy for afterwards…
