Today I'm going to show you how I usually cook instant noodles. I'm no expert on this, so be warned.

Normal Way

First, we get the wrapping off and dip the noodles in the pan. It was filled with enough water so the noodles would be completely submerged.

We put the stove on medium heat, waiting until it starts foaming. Once the noodles softened, we use a spatula (or a spoon) to spread the noodle around.

Once all the noodles are soft, we'll turn off the heat.

If it's fried noodle, we use a filter to separate the hot water.

If it's soupy noodle, we kept the water.

Some 'health-conscious' people might prefer to cook it two times to further 'clean' the harmful substances from the first boiling. So you put the soft noodle in the same proportion of water and heat it over.

It probably has some effect if you want to eat the soupy one but not sure about the fried one since the harmful water got all drained away.

In addition, the second water cooking's probably better if you wanna add some further dishes to elevate your instant noodle experience. Something that works boiled. The most common one is the eggs. You can also add sausage and meatballs—even luncheon pork works fine.

Some dishes, like the frozen food—the kinds of chicken nuggets are strictly for frying. I tried boiling them once and it went all soggy; it wasn't pleasant to eat.

Although you can always fry those later—like fried eggs. The fried foods work pretty well with fried noodles.

...but it may not be so if you're going for soupy noodles.

As for the soupy foods, it can work with both soupy and fried ones—depending on your taste.

After the noodle was finally cooked, you can put the sesame oil, chili powder, the noodle powder, and even the soy sauce provided in it—stir it together and, Bon apetit!

Or you can also add your own cooking spice, either brought from convenience store of handcrafted from various kitchen spices. Using grounded chili brought from the local farmer's market, mixed together with the springy noodles. The spicy and salty sensation might cause saliva to form.

...the rest of it was—enjoy your food.

If you're cooking for someone, we hope the one eating it would enjoy the food as well!

The Actual Instant Way

Some noodles, like the noodle snacks that were popular with kids—they could be eaten directly.

You just have to open the wrapping at one side and pour the noodle powder straight to it. After that, you close it with your fingers and crack the noodles apart. When it's already crushed enough, you can shake it so the powders would be equally spread.

All that's left is just eating it—snack time!

The noodles can also be cooked, but I didn't remember how it tastes like.

When I was a kid, I remember doing the same thing, on the noodle that's supposed to be cooked. Just found it odd at that time—why were the noodles so hard?

Thinking 'bout it once more, that's a silly mistake on my part—such youth.

Microwave Version

Back then, when our family had a microwave, I used to just put the noodles inside a Tupperware and enough water. With just a few presses of the button, it'd be done.

Contrary to popular belief, cooking methods with microwave and stoves didn't differ much in terms of cost.

Cup Noodles and Noodles-in-a-cup

Ah, cup noodles. The bread and butter for Otaku, NEET, and Shut-ins in anime series.

Nothing much to say, just pour hot water in it and you're done—at least that's what I've heard. Haven't eaten it myself since it's not my thing.

As for noodles-in-a-cup, it's pretty much a niche—a terrible one on top of that. Unless you like some gimmicky way of enjoying your noodles I don't see it worth trying.

Blank Noodles

Just instant noodles without any condiments in—just the noodle itself.

They can be pretty cheap, with a bigger portion than the usual instant noodle.

Cooking with it was roughly the same as the instant noodles, but since one package may be too much, you may want to divide the portion to your taste first.

If you're a connoisseur of cooking your own noodle, your own way—this is da wae.

When I tried cooking it—man it was so satisfying. I just used the cooking powders from the convenience store and it really adds up to the taste. Plus some fried eggs or boiled meatballs and sausage, at times.

It had a special kind of accomplishment rather than just buying your usual instant noodle package. With this, you can just mix and match as you want.

Additional Things

When I was eating out for the instant noodles, way before I cooked my own--I discovered some of the toppings that may enhance the experience.

These are eggs, sausage, meatballs, corned beef, and grated cheese.

I didn't use corned beef and cheese that much while I cook noodles for myself. So yeah, kinda forgot about it earlier.

One shop, in particular, had a special menu, with all of them in one bowl. Whoa, talk about overkill. If you want some greens, they also had that green crunchy vegetable to go with it, in addition to fried onions.

Fried onions, the unsung hero of instant noodles.

For a specific taste, you can also add some nuts in it as well; the one without the skin, that you can directly crunch.

They also cook them mixed with eggs and fried it, so the end result would be that large round pizza-like thing with noodles and the toppings underneath. We call it Omelettes, but not sure if that's the correct term.

In some mid to high-end restaurants, where they serve actual noodles (from the Blank Noodles as the base) you can even see some prawns, minced meat, crab meat, tomatoes and sliced cucumber, fried vegetables—and...whatever. It's already some next level shit I hadn't even cooked at all.

...and in my recent dinner experience, they serve those instant noodles with fried rice.

...but well, it's more about the rice meal than the noodle experience. Which was why I won't go into detail.

Until next time.

...before that, here's a little bonus.

Da Wae

The actual food isn't the noodle, but the plastic wrapping.

You simply threw the noodle in the trash and ate the wraps.