Ramen Bun Burger
Fried noodle cakes instead of bread, with a beef patty and quick-pickled cucumber. A car-camping build.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 64
- protein
- 43 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 45 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 65 min
- water
- 700 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
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Instant noodles | 120 g | discard or save the seasoning packets |
|---|---|---|
| Eggs | 2 | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp, plus 1/2 tsp for the pickle | |
| Pepper | 1/2 tsp, plus 1/4 tsp ground for the pickle | |
| Cucumber | 1/2 | |
| Water | 2 tbsp | for the pickle brine |
| Vinegar, 7% | 2 tbsp | |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground beef | 300 g | |
| Soy sauce | 1 tbsp | |
| Sesame oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Neutral oil or butter | 1 tbsp | for frying |
| Scallion | 1 | |
| Sriracha mayo | 2 tbsp | single-serve packets if you have no cooler space |
| Fresh cilantro | 2 tbsp | |
| Chili flakes | 1/2 tsp | optional |
Method
- Boil the noodles per the package, drain them, and let the steam come off.
- Beat the eggs in a bowl with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Fold the drained noodles in until every strand is coated.
- Divide the noodles into four wide bowls or cups lined with plastic wrap. Fold the wrap over, stack the bowls, and weight the top one with a full water bottle. Press for at least 30 minutes in the cooler.
- Slice the cucumber thin with a peeler. Shake the water, vinegar, sugar, remaining salt, and ground pepper together in a jar and pour it over. Leave it 15 minutes.
- Mix the beef with the soy sauce and sesame oil. Work it just enough to combine, then form two patties.
- Heat the pan hot with the oil or butter. Sear the patties on one side until juice beads on top, flip, and cook through. Set them aside.
- Add more fat to the pan and lay in the noodle cakes. Three to five minutes a side, until they are gold and hold together.
- Slice the scallion. Build each burger with sriracha mayo, patty, drained cucumber, scallion, cilantro, and chili flakes.
This is a car-camping recipe and it stays one. The noodle buns need a press and a cold rest, the beef and mayo need a cooler, and none of that shrinks into a pack. Trying to trail-ify it would leave you with a different dish.
The egg is structural. It sets around the noodles as they fry and turns a loose tangle into a cake that survives being picked up. Press them under weight while they cool or they will fall apart in the pan. The vinegar cucumber is not garnish either, it is the only thing cutting a patty built on soy sauce and sesame oil.
Packing
Beef, eggs, cucumber, mayo, and cilantro live in the cooler. Noodles, sugar, salt, pepper, and chili flakes go in one dry bag. Premix the vinegar brine at home in a small leakproof jar and you skip a measuring step in camp.
Variations
- Skip the pressing entirely and eat it as a bowl: noodles, patty broken up, pickles, and mayo stirred together.
- Ground pork or turkey works the same way.
- No cooler and no eggs, no problem: fry the patty, wrap it in a tortilla, and keep the pickle.
https://www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/kos/ramenburger