I’ve been having a pretty lousy week. To cheer me up, my awesome husband decided to surprise me with an awesome dinner: homemade ramen burgers.
What is a ramen burger you say?
It is only the food of the moment here in NYC. (You can read all about it here).
People are lining up for hours each Saturday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to sink their teeth into a burger patty on a ramen “bun.” (It’s an invention of Keizo Shimimoto)
So Mike somehow got it into his (genius) head that we could try to make it ourselves. He Googled and happened upon this video, which served as enough instruction for him to do it at home by memory. And you know what… it was DAMN EASY!
We started with some ramen (sans the spicy add-in since I am allergic).
We boiled it like normal.
Drained it
Added an egg (to bind it)
And then put it into a round ramekin dish (the size of a hamburger bun).
Covered it in plastic wrap and then used another ramekin to push the noodles down into the bottom of the dish.
(We actually did a double-up because we only have 2 ramekins, but I do not recommend this).
Then we used the top ramekin as a weight and put it into the fridge for 15 minutes.
When it came out, it was a perfectly round and well formed noodle “bun.”
Which we then put into a hot pan with a bit of oil.
With its buddy
And browned them up until they were crispy (note: these go from not brown to nearly burnt very fast… so watch carefully)
While those browned, Mike made an amazing umami mushroom sauce using shitake mushrooms, garlic, sesame oil, butter, and a bit of teriyaki sauce.
Then browned up some bison burgers in the awesome sauce. (Without a grill in a NYC apartment, the pan seared burger still works well)
And then… we put it all together. (with arugula, tomato, and the mushroom sauce)
And it was beautiful.
And it erased all the bad that happened this week.
It was absolutely delicious to boot (even though we couldn’t use the Asian seasoning and we forgot the fried egg on top). The crunch of the ramen on the outside followed by a bit of the noodly texture, and with the burger inside and the umami mushroom sauce, it was just a genius combination. I see why people wait on line for hours for this franken-food, however, why wait when you can make it yourself in 30 minutes flat?
I love my husband.
Tags: cooking, food trends, frankenfood, fun recipes, homemade ramen burger, Keizo Shimimoto, make ramen burger at home, pop food, ramen burger, recipes, smorgasburg, williamsburg
