Mmmm, Chicken

Tonight I treated dad to a birthday dinner at the local hibachi grill. We got some shrimp, steak, and teriyaki chicken. Tonight I'm......not going to show you how to make easy teriyaki chicken. Sorry. As much as I love it, I have yet to nail a quick and easy homemade teriyaki (barring just pouring a bottle of goopy commercial teriyaki sauce over it, but where's the fun in that?). I do have a sauce similar to teriyaki, but that's a post for another time (as in, on my day off).

Meanwhile, here's a quick way to dress up ramen. My personal preference when making ramen is to add more water than necessary to make it into a soup. And I really don't like all the sodium, so I only use enough of the flavor packet to put taste in it.

Instead of the packet, I use other spices to flavor the ramen soup. I tend to use spices like coriander, cumin, cilantro, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, and/or on occasion turmeric. This is just my personal preference. Please, by all means, experiment with your favorite spices to create a flavor all your own that you like. Or just use the packet. Your choice.

Next, I add some sliced grape or cherry tomatoes. I'm sure there are other veggies that would go good with ramen soup, but I haven't found one that suits my tastes. Again, find whatever suits your personal tastes.

And now for the essential ingredient, one small can of canned chicken, for protein. Now, I use canned chicken because I often don't have the time or energy (or money) to get a raw chicken and cook it up from scratch, especially for just a packet of ramen. The made-from-scratch approach is strictly on my days off (which are now limited). If you can afford to get raw or rotisserie and have the time to prepare it, more power to you.

(Actually, now that I think about, rotisserie chicken and noodles sounds good right about now. If I ever get a chance to try it, I'll let you know how it goes.)

Ahem. Well, that's pretty much my special ramen soup. Get the noodles, put in your ingredients, pour hot water over it. Done.

I apologize if this is overly simple. I have excuses and reasons, and none of them are very good. I'll have something better for you tomorrow, I promise. And now, off to bed, for I have work in the morning.