Myojo Chukazanmai Soy Sauce Flavor

Made By:  Myojo Foods Co. [Japan]
Required to Prepare:  Water, Saucepan & Range
370 calories per package

Available online at Amazon.com

I know this blog has been woefully neglected of late, but I am still around... and more importantly to the story, my wife and I have been on a bit of a ramen kick recently.  We started by having some of my (already reviewed) favorites together, but it is time to start reviewing again!  I'm re-starting things with a very traditional product from Myojo, their Chukazanmai soy sauce (shoyu) ramen.

The package contains two soup base packets, one powdered and one liquid, and a very interesting block of dried noodles--they are not 'puffed' the way almost all instant ramen is at all; they quite hard and dense, and are much more like a dry pasta, like wavy spaghetti.  The liquid seasoning packet has concentrated soy sauce and sesame-flavored oil, and the powdered base seems to be, for want of a better description, a typical "oriental flavor" soup base.
We boil 600ml (about 2-1/2 cups) of water, then add the noodles and cook for 4 minutes.  The soup bases get mixed in at the end, either before or after we transfer the soup to our bowl, and with a quick stir we are ready to have some ramen!

[Note:  the delicious oils on top of the soup caught the
camera flash in an odd way, it didn't look this weird in person.
This does show how much rich flavoring you get though!]

Well, almost ready.  It feels a bit like there is something missing, and there is--I've skipped a step in the instructions.  See, this is actually a very respectable rendition of 'real' shoyu ramen soup; the non-puffed noodles are firmer and more like fresh, and the broth has that rich sesame and soy sauce flavor.  However, a 'real' shoyu ramen would never get caught being served naked like this, which is why the last step in the instructions is:  "3.  Try adding meat, or vegetable as desired."  To start, I think the 'serving suggestion' from the front of the package, which depicts some braised pork belly along with radishes, greens, and peppers, would be delicious, but really I think it would be a fine way to use whatever meaty leftovers you had around.  Extra rotisserie chicken, roast beef, kamaboko and 6-minute eggs all sound like good things to build a bowl of ramen around.

I actually could see eating it on its own for something simple and comforting if I were under the weather, but I can definitely see that it is meant as a base for a meal soup of your own design, and I think I may try to keep a couple of packs around for just that purpose. :)