Thanksgiving 2011: Re-Review of Indomie Special Fried Curly Noodles Special Quality Instant Noodles

Before I start the re-review, I just want to say happy Thanksgiving to all – it’s been a great year for me and I’ve got so much to be thankful for. My health, my job, my son and my wife. I also would like to say thanks for all the great fans and contributors to the site – whether by donations or comments, you help make this site thrive.

Today, I thought I’d re-review my favorite instant noodles ever. I have two packs that Greg B. from Florida sent me and I’m going to make them both! I’m going all-out with all the additions too! I know I’ll be having some awesome turkey and trimmings over at my wife’s aunt and uncle’s later, but for now, may I present noodle perfection.

Here’s the back of the package.

Let’s start weith a look at the noodles. They are a little broad and flat and so enjoyable.

Here’s four of the five packets – from the left to right, we start with the dehydrated vegetable. Next, the dry powder seasoning. After that in the clear packet we have seasoned oil. Finally, some sweet soy sauce which is indigenously referred to as kecap manis.

Here’s everything but the vegetables in this shot. Might not look too appetizing but trust me, this is absolutely delectable once combined with everything else!

Here is the vegetable packets’ contents. You’ve got carrot, onion and surprising to me, TVP (textured vegetable protein) – fake meat!

Here’s a packet all on its own – its got chili powder in it.

Here’s the finished product with everything added. What do we have here? Well, I start with a pair of fried eggs with soft yolks. Then a little pickled ginger – it has a nice fresh and tangy crunch. I  tossed in a little turkey lunch meat with a couple pinches of pepper on the right and some fried shallot next to the eggs. Atop the eggs I used some Huy Fong Sriracha hot sauce and a little Krazy Mixed Up Salt all around.

This was absolutely wonderful stuff. The flavors all come together in a bowl of complete awesomeness. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. My all time favorite! I can’t recommend it any higher. You can get the close relative of this variety, the grilled chicken version here. Instead of a chili powder packet it sports a packet you add a little liquid too and adds a nice tasty bit of broth. This is great since you can break the soft yolk first and pour the liquid over it, making a rich and hearty broth. Damn good stuff!

A rather long Indomie commercial. Lebaran is an Islamic holiday – read about it here. Indomie is to Indonesia as Coca Cola is to the United States; they’re a household name.

Another Indomie commercial

#410: Lucky Me! Instant Bulalo (Bone Marrow Soup) Artificial Beef Flavor Instant Noodles

It’s been sitting in my big ramen box for quite a while now and been comtemplating trying this one as of late. Got an email this morning from someone who read the article in the Herald about this site and this stuff was mentioned, so I thought no time like the present. Lucky me!

A couple of packets – powder on the left, strange little clove-like things and veggies on the right.

So this one is a ‘no cook’ variety, however I find that silly since it does cook just like a cup noodle. So you put the noodle block and seasonings in the bowl and add 400cc (about 2 cups) of water. Then you cover it. I’m sorry, but to me, boiling water is cooking; you’re making hot water soup right?

So I covered the bowl with the boiling water in it with the Sons of Champlin album and put a Pepsi 2 liter on top so the album might warp a little and the noodles would get their full coverage.

Ok so here’s the deal. I have a bowl of Lucky Me! noodles a while back – Sotanghon I believe, and they came with ‘free crackers.’ This was a good deal and so I thought I’d try this one with some ‘paid for’ crackers. So there are two crushed and neatly arranged Keebler Club Butter Garlic crackers there. Also in the middle underneath the crackers is a single fried egg – it has a little pepper and a little Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt.

The noodles are very good – they almost remind me of the noodles one would find in Campbell’s Beef Noodle Soup. The broth is nice and tasty. The veggies and little fake meatball thingies are really strange but fun. The whole thing ties togethe to make a tasty meal. I liked this quite a bit. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars.

Sweet – original commercials rock!

This stuff looks really tasty! Easy to cook too.

 

#347: Sunny Maid Mi Chay Vegetarian Ramen

So this has been one I’ve been curious about for a while. It’s lurked in my ramen box, quietly asking me to try it from time to time. I heeded its call, and tonight gave it the trappings of a fine bowl of noodles.

The shiny packet contained vegetables and seasoning powder. After adding the spices, I tend to give the inside of the powder packet a quick lick to get a taste. Well, I wasn’t too enthused. This was nasty. Like socks.

Vegetables on the left and seasoning oil on the right. You can see the powder intermingled with the veggies.

So on this one I added two fried eggs, a small baked chicken breast, Huy Fong Sriracha hot sauce, kizami shoga pickled ginger and fried shallots. A pinch of ‘Krazy Mixed Up Salt‘ atop the eggs.

SoI sampled the noodles and broth before the additions. It wasn’t my favorite whatsoever. The noodles were fine but the flavors were horrible. Almost a hint of dirt I would say. Just not my style whatsoever… 1.75 out of 5.0 stars. Get it here.

So here’s a guy making ramen and then adding vegetables.

STAR TREK FARTS RULE!!!

#209: Nissin Souper Meal Beef Flavor Minestrone with Premium Straight-Cut Noodles

It’s big, it’s burly, it’s insanity. I really think the USA is the only country that this is marketed to. Super size me ramen! 2960mg of sodium and 560 calories. But hey, that 14g of protein will help on the jog you take after eating this!

So a couple of packets – veggies and soup base. I was pleased to see the amount of veggies here.

Oodles of veggies! I tried a chunk of the uncooked noodle cake and a smidge of the beef flavoring – wow that could be eaten just like that – very tasty stuff! But this isn’t dry ramen rater so I added the water and microwaved for the four and a half minutes.

One thing they add to these bowls are the ‘flavor enhancer’ otherwise known as the ‘finishing touch.’ I tried it straight and it was like a bit of beef fat and teriyaki and sesami oil. At least that’s what it tasted like. The ingredients were all encompassing and not broken down as to packet.

Here she is in all of her glory. I christen this the USS Ubernoodle. I’m not going to lie – this is pretty good. The noodles are what you’d expect; a little mushy. But the veggies are nice and  a little sweet, there are bit of dehydrated beef [could be soya protein or textured vegetable protein – not sure] and the broth is nice and tasty – I think the finishing touch made it better. So the only issue is whether I can eat the whole thing or not. I tend to doubt it. I’m going to give it 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. I feel that the individual flavors and textures are good but together they kind of run together and don’t make me cheer. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if it were spicy as well.