Bread & Brulee: Ramen Burger

Why wait in line when you can make it at home? When I read about this ramen burger on Thrillist, I was a little skeptical. But the fact that so many people were waiting in line for this, I thought why not try it at home? I love ramen, I love burgers, and I've already missed out on the cronut. (There's no way I'm waiting in line at 6am or earlier in the city for this, with no guarantee of getting one.) Overall this recipe was fairly easy and awesomely delicious. Who would think ramen noodles with burger meat could taste soo good?

I found this recipe online and tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients:

1 package of fresh ramen (I used Yamachan)
1 egg
cooking oil (I used vegetable)
2 beef patties
shoyu (soy sauce)
sesame oil
2 scallions, chopped
arugula for garnish
kosher salt for seasoning

I was most iffy about making the bun in terms of keeping the shape together, but it turned out to be a lot easier than I expected!

1. Prep the garnishes first by chopping the arugula and dicing the scallions.

2. Cook the fresh ramen in boiling water for 2 minutes. (You can probably use the packaged deep fried ramen if needed. Fresh ramen has not been deep fried and I figured the texture would work better, as well as making it a little healthier to start with. You should be able to find it in the frozen food aisle of an Asian supermarket.)

3. When the noodles are done, strain and then rinse with cool water. Whisk the egg in a bowl and add the ramen. Mix until well coated. Depending on the size of the ramen package, split it into equal portions to create the buns. (I used two packages this time around to make 4 "pieces," but next time I'll use one package so that the bun isn't as thick.) After pressing the bun into the shape of the pyrex, I put them into the freezer for a quick 10-min chill, and then moved to the refrigerator so that it wouldn't get too firm.

4. Heat a nonstick pan and put a light coating of vegetable oil to heat. Take the noodle buns out and flip upside down onto a cutting board. Use a spatula to help place into the pan. (Since the ramen was unseasoned, I sprinkled some salt on both sides as they cooked.) Cook on each side for about 2 minutes, depending on thickness, until golden brown. Let cool a bit.

5. In the meantime, cook/grill the beef patties to your desired temp (medium well here), seasoned with salt, and then brushed with some soy sauce and sesame oil.

6. Right before assembly of the burger, I mixed the scallions with a dash of sesame oil and salt.

7. Assemble the ramen burger - noodle bun, arugula, beef patty, spooned on scallion/sesame oil mix, noodle bun. Enjoy!