> Anyone know of low fat or ff Ramen noodles? I love them but they're high in
> fat. :( Also, is the fat in the broth or in the noodles themselves? Because
> I pour off most of the broth and use the noodles as a base for veggies, etc.
The fat, unfortunately, is in the noodles; that is what makes the dried
noodles cookable in 3 minutes rather than 12. If you have access to an
Oriental store, you might consider other forms of Sino-Japanese pasta,
such as udon or soba (particularly zarusoba, which is buckwheat and/or
yam). Better yet, if you have a day and nothing better to do, make the
noodles yourself. Here's how:
UDON NOODLES
Start with a high-gluten bread flour, and mix 700 g of flour, 295 ml of
water and 50 g of salt. Knead it for about 15 minutes. Place the dough
in a thick unused garbage bag, and place the bag on the floor. Stomp on
the bag with your feet until the dough is really flat, which will take
about 3-4 minutes. Pick up the bag, take out the dough, roll it up by
hand, put it back in the bag, put the bag back on the floor, and repeat
the process until you have stomped 10 times. Let it sit in the bag for
about an hour, or place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, letting
it sit out for 30 minutes if you refrigerated it
Do "the stomp" process five more times. Take the dough out of the bag and
place it on a fairly wide flat floured surface. Using a 1-2" dowel
(though a rolling pin will do), roll out the dough until it is a rectangle
about 1/10" thick. Fold over the far side of the rectangle, then the near
side over the far side, until the lengthwise view of the rectangle has
been folded until thirds. Using a VERY sharp knife (there is a knife
specifically designed for this purpose, but getting one is a real bear and
I don't have one myself), slice the dough into pasta strips about 1/8"
thick, and toss the pasta with cornstarch. Let the pasta sit in a bowl
for about 20 minutes, then boil it in salted water about 12 minutes; drain
and rinse. Place it in bowls with heated *tsuyu* (see below), add some
cut scallions and serve.
*Tsuyu* (stock for noodles)
For eachserving of noodles, combine 300 ml of boiling water, soy sauce to
taste (about 100 ml more or less) and boil with kombu leaves; remove the
leaves, pour into a bowl, add the noodles and cut scallions.
P.S. If you want to see a web page showing some of these steps, go to:
http://sistercities.lakeland.net/udon.htm
The precocious teenager is my son, the beautiful and intelligent lady is
my wife, and the bald dude is yours truly.
Jim Massey
Humanities, Polk Community College, Lakeland, FL
masseyj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------