If I’ve learned anything during this pandemic food craziness is that growing up a little food insecure and rather poor has it’s perks… you know how to turn relatively cheap food items into some gourmet dishes. Now presenting: Frugal Ramen Noodle Stir-fry.

This recipe makes one serving. You are welcome single people!

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Ramen (the flavor doesn’t matter… toss that seasoning packet into the trash)
• Veggies of your choice (here I used frozen peppers, frozen mixed veggies and some fresh broccoli- really it’s up to you whether to use fresh or frozen. As you will see you might not use it all for one serving- I used about a cup of the mixed veggies, a cup of broccoli and a 1/4 cup of the peppers here.)
• About 5 tbsps Soy sauce or sweet chili sauce (i’m allergic to soy so I try not to use soy sauce and find that the sweet chili sauce gives this a nice flavor)
• 2 eggs
• Butter (1 oz)
• Garlic (about 2 tsps or to your liking)
• Optional: Pork, Chicken, Shrimp, SPAM, Beef, Tofu (make sure it’s cut up into small bites if you are using a protein other than Shrimp)

Step 1: Cook them noodles. You know boil some water, insert in noodles till the block of noodles softens up to your liking. It’s really easy.

Step 2: While the noodles cook, heat up that butter and garlic in a frying pan.

Step 3: Get it all mixed together. (At this point you can had some salt and pepper if you want a little more flavor.)

Step 4: If you are using protein, toss it in and let it cook a bit, taking in the buttery garlic goodness.

Step 5: Add your fresh veggies and place a lid over your frying pan to soften them up a bit. (Tip: you can steam them before you make this to help speed up the process a bit). If you aren’t using fresh veggies skip to step 6 BUT Also… go check on your noodles and drain the water a bit…but not all of it, save about a 2/3 cup!

Step 6: Add your frozen veggies if you need to. Make sure to combine everything together very well.

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Step 7: Add the noodles and the 2/3 cup of noodle water. Reduce the heat and let the water boil a little.

Step 8: Add your soy sauce or sweet chili sauce. Don’t worry, if this isn’t enough, you can add more to meet your taste requirements. Stir it all up.

Step 9: Crack open your eggs and pour them on top of your mixture.

Step 10: Stir it up again. At this point you will want to keep stirring the mixture while the eggs cook. Stirring will help make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan, but also will help everything get coated in the eggs which is a key part to the texture of this dish!

Step 11: Once the eggs look fully cooked and the water has evaporated, remove from heat and serve!

Step 12: ENJOY!