Recession Recipes

Whenever we are in the UK, we always go and eat at Wagamama (turns out there are now a few Wagamamas on the East Coast too). It is the perfect place to have dinner with a large group of friends, and the noodles are always outstanding.

Carlo was in the mood for some noodles the other day, so we dusted off The Wagamama Cookbook from our cookbook shelf and looked for something tasty to make. Carlo decided on this Chili-Marinated Vegetable Ramen. We kind of tweaked the recipe so it was more veggies and less noodles, but feel free to change up the recipe if you want more of a heavy noodle dish.

The chili-marinated veggies are quite subtle like much of Japanese cuisine, so if you want an extra kick, add tons of extra garlic and chili, or even add a few tablespoons of garlic chili sauce. These vegetable noodles make enough for 4 people at $1.67 per serving.

Chili-Marinated Vegetable Ramen, adapted from The Wagamama Cookbook
2 small eggplants, trimmed and sliced
vegetable oil
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 zucchini, sliced
8 medium mushrooms, halved
8 baby sweetcorn, halved lengthways
8 green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch slices
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 red chilis, trimmed, deseeded, and finely chopped
10 ounces wholemeal ramen noodles
1 quart vegetable stock

Heat a griddle or bbq grill until smoking. Brush the eggplant slices with oil, and put all the other veggies in a large bowl and toss them with a couple tablespoons of oil until everything is coated.

Cook the eggplant first, around 4 minutes on each side, or until tender. Then cook the sweet potato, mushrooms, and zucchini, all of which should take about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Finally cook the sweetcorn and green onions for 1 minute on each side.

Transfer the veggies to a large bowl, and pour over the soy sauce, garlic, and chili. You can get as crazy as you want with the spices here, so add as much heat as you can handle. You can also use some spicy garlic chili paste too for a bit more flavour as well.

Cover the marinating veggies with clingfilm. It is important to let the vegetables marinate while they are hot so that they absorb the most flavours, and they will soften up a bit more too. Let the veggies sit in the marinade for at least 20 minutes.

Cook the noodles in a large pan of boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they are just tender. Drain thoroughly and divide between 4 bowls. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil. Once it is hot, pour the stock over the noodles and top with the marinated veggies.