Mee Goreng in a Pot
Ramen noodles pulled into a sweet, hot, soy-heavy sauce. Two blocks, one pot, no drained water.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant ramen | 2 blocks | keep both seasoning packets for the sauce |
|---|---|---|
| Soy sauce | 1/4 cup | carried in a leakproof bottle |
| Ketchup packets | 1/4 cup | roughly 8 packets |
| Sesame oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Sambal or sriracha | 2 tbsp | packets or a small squeeze bottle |
| Dark brown sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Cooking oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Freeze-dried chicken or a foil pouch of chicken | 4 oz | |
| Dried garlic slices | 1 tbsp | or 1 tsp granulated garlic |
| Dried chili flakes | 1 tsp | |
| Freeze-dried cabbage or spinach | 1 cup | |
| Dried scallions | 2 tbsp | |
| Lime powder or a lime wedge | 1 tsp |
Method
- Mix the soy sauce, ketchup, sesame oil, sambal, brown sugar, and both seasoning packets in a bottle or bag. Do this at home if you can.
- Boil 400 ml of water. Drop in the freeze-dried chicken, cabbage, garlic, chili, and scallions. Let them sit off the heat for five minutes to rehydrate.
- Bring it back to a simmer and add the ramen blocks. Push them under and cook two minutes, breaking them apart as they soften.
- Do not drain. Pour in the sauce and the cooking oil and stir hard over low heat until the liquid coats the noodles instead of pooling.
- Kill the heat, dust with lime powder, and eat straight from the pot.
The original is a wok dish: high heat, fresh greens, everything drained and tossed. None of that survives a stove that puts out one flame at one temperature. The fix is to rehydrate first and never drain. The vegetables and meat go in the water that becomes part of the sauce, so nothing is thrown away and nothing is wasted on a second boil.
The sauce carries this. Soy, ketchup, brown sugar, and sambal give you salt, acid, sweet, and heat in four shelf-stable things, and the ramen seasoning packets add the glutamate that would otherwise come from a wok’s browning. Mix it at home. Measuring six liquids in the dark is how you end up with a pot of soy sauce.
Packing
Sauce goes in one small leakproof bottle. Ramen blocks, freeze-dried vegetables, chicken, garlic, chili, and scallions ride together in a quart freezer bag. Oil in a dropper bottle.
Variations
- Foil-pouch tuna instead of chicken if you want it cheaper and heavier.
- Skip the meat and use double vegetables for a vegetarian pot. It is still not vegan, since the seasoning packets are usually not.
- A tablespoon of peanut butter stirred into the sauce thickens it, but then it is no longer nut-free.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/mee-goreng-stir-fried-noodles