#983: Meet The Manufacturer – Sun Noodle Tantanmen Spicy Sesame Flavor Ramen (Mild)

Winding down the Sun Noodle Meet The Manufacturer with the next to last review. I must say there have been some really good ones in this bunch! Here’s something I’ve not tried previously – Tantanmen. Tantanmen as described by Wikipedia:

Dandan noodles or Dandanmian (traditional Chinese: 擔擔麵, simplified Chinese: 担担面) is a classic dish originating from ChineseSichuan cuisine. It consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables (often including zha cai, 榨菜, lower enlarged mustard stems, or ya cai, 芽菜, upper mustard stems), chili oil, Sichuan pepper, minced pork, and scallions served over noodles.

Sesame paste is sometimes added, and sometimes replaces the spicy sauce, usually in the Taiwanese and American Chinese-style of this dish.^[1] In this case, Dandanmian is considered as a variation of Ma Jiang Mian (麻醬麵), sesame sauce noodles. In American Chinese cuisine, Dandanmian is often sweeter, less spicy, and less soupy, and peanut butter is sometimes added.

The ingredients and directions (click image to enlarge).

The noodles. You get two of these and two of the seasoning packets.

The liquid seasoning packet.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added kamaboko, green onion, sweet onion, hard boiled egg and Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles rock – nice gauge and great feel – almost buttery. The broth has a strong sesame flavor. I also detect a flavor reminiscent of peanut butter and a slight spiciness. This one’s interesting! 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 085315400059.

A look indie Sun Noodle – video here.

#973: Springlife Instant Noodles Spinach With Organic Noodles

 

Here’s one of the packs that came from Australia! Thanks go to Melanie I. of Jannali, NSW for sending these and also thanks to Mark K. for getting her to do it! These are from China but sold in Australia. Looks like something different – let’s check it out.

The distributor’s sticker.

The back of the package (click image to enlarge). I went with the second set of instructions.

The noodle block – in it’s own cellophane.

A large seasoning packet.

Interestingly light powder.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added baked chicken, broccoli, sweet onion, green bell pepper, garlic salt and Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles are very nice – great texture and feel. The broth definitely tastes of spinach, but it ends there. It’s not very salty at all, which can be good and bad. Good is that you can add your own, bad is if you don’t have any. I go with the base product of course on my reviews and this is some bland stuff. 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 6931162280921 .

A video about organic foods in Australia.

Something completely unrelated – Robocop shows up for dinner in Korea…

#965: Meet The Manufacturer: Annie Chun’s Noodle Express Chinese Chow Mein

Here’s the first of nine reviews I’ll be doing of Annie Chun’s products. I’ve only had a couple of these before and those were quite a while back. This one looks interesting – and it only takes a minute in the microwave?! That’s really fast!

Here’s the back and the sides (click image to enlarge).

Underneath the cardboard outer packaging is this rigid plastic container.

Inside, we find a packet of fresh noodles.

A large liquid packet.

Neat – it has a windows on the back so you can see the liquid.

Finally, a veggies packet.

Lots of neat little bits in there.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added green onions, thin sliced turkey breast, kizami shoga (pickled ginger) and Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles are wonderful – they have a very fresh feel to them during the chew. The seasoning is pretty good too – has a strong soy sauce and vinegar taste along with some nice spices. The dehydrated veggies are good too – lots of onion which I like. A good bowl of noodles! 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 765667200308 – get it here.

An Annie Chun’s TV commercial

Here’s an overview of some of Annie Chun’s products.

#942: Kamfen Lobster Soup Flavor E-Men Noodles

While scouring local Asian markets for varieties I hadn’t yet reviewed, I came upon these. They’re chinese and in a really big package!

Here’s the back of the package (clkick image to enlarge). Nowhere does it say how much water to use. When I made this in the past I used very little and treated it as a stir noodle.

The noodles are very wide and in their own cellophane package.

A single seasoning packet.

Has an interesting flavor – buttery along with slight seafood.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added stir fry veggies, sweet onion, kamaboko, narutomaki and a little Urashima Sesame and Salt furikake. The noodles are pretty good – flat and broad. The flavoring? It works – these end up being very mello noodles. 3.25 out of 5.0 stars – pretty good. UPC bar code 6920363401839 .

A speaker factory in Shenzhen where these noodles are made.

A trip to a French museum with old videocamera – pretty amazing!

#941: Ko-Lee Go Noodles Chicken Special Flavour

Here’s another one of the new ones that Joe & Gill sent me from the UK! Never tried this one before – they sent quite a few Ko-Lee varieties and sounded like they like them a lot. Let’s check out the chicken special!

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge). It mentions cooking them up in trhree different ways: instant (steeping), cooking (boiling) and ready to eaat. Ready to eat is crunching up the noodles in the bag and sprinkling the seasoning on and chowing down!

The block broke apart in the mail but did pretty well!

The powder seasoning.

Here’s the powder. It has a strong salty chicken taste. As I’m readying everything (I take the pictures and do everything up before I cook), there’s a distinct smell wafting around that’s reminiscent of boxed macaroni and cheese.

Seasoned oil.

I detect the scent of onion from this one.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added a scrambled egg with a little Dua Belibis chili sauce, stir fry veggies, sweet onion, thin sliced turkey breast and a sprinkle of Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles are thin and buttery. The broth is really nice – has a rich chicken flavor and has a bit of thickness to it – not a sauce, just heartier. I liked it! Quite nice for a chicken noodle. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars.  UPC bar code 5023751101111 .

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Another one!