Curried Ramen Noodles

My Venture into the Exciting World of Ramen
Many years ago as a starving college student, I fixed Ramen Noodles all of the time. Well, I wasn't so much a starving college student as I was a walking zit factory with a batootie big enough to do all of his clothes shopping at Kansas Tent and Awning.

Ramen Noodles are cheap, easy, and really fast to make. This recipe cooks up in less than 10 minutes – and it tastes great, too! Oooooh, this takes me back to my good, 'ol college days with my crazy frat brothers John Belushi, Tim Matheson, and Peter Riegert at Delta Tau Chi. Wait. Were those my friends or the cast of "Animal House?" Well, in any case, use your noodle and cook this recipe today! Enjoy!

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Curried Ramen Noodles
(Printable Version)

From a salad bar, pick up the following three items:
½ c chicken breast
½ c green onions or scallions (or ¼ c red onions)
½ c bell peppers (or substitute your favorite vegetable)

3 cups water
1 package of Chicken-Flavor Ramen Noodles
1½ TBPS butter
1½ tsp curry powder

Heat 3 cups of water in a saucepan over high heat. Wait a couple of minutes then start heating a skillet on a separate burner over medium heat. This recipe comes together fast, so timing is critical. Sorry – you'll have to wash 2 pans tonight.

When the skillet is hot, add the butter and allow it to melt. You should not, however, add the butter to the skillet until your saucepan of water is already boiling and waiting for you. To the skillet, add the bell peppers and green onions and cook for 2 minutes.

Immediately after you have started the veggies cooking in the skillet, open the package of ramen noodles and remove the seasoning packet but do not add the packet to the boiling water. To make it easier to eat, break the clump of ramen noodles into 4 smaller chunks then add them to the water. Boil the noodles for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After the veggies have cooked for 2 minutes, add the curry powder, seasoning packet, and the chicken to the skillet and stir to combine. Cook for about 1 minute stirring often to keep the curry powder from burning. By now, your noodles should have cooked 3 minutes and must now be removed from the water. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ramen noodles from the water and immediately add them to the skillet. You don't have to be meticulous about draining off every drop of water from the noodles. In fact, you want a little bit of the pasta water to get transferred to the skillet (maybe a total of 2 TBSP or so). Without this small amount of pasta water, the noodles would be too tight and gummy. Discard the remaining pasta water. Using a pair of tongs, mix the noodles into the curry power, veggies, and chicken. Serve immediately.