When I was a teenager, I lived on Okinawa, a little island about an hour’s plane ride from Japan. Okinawa has a rich and varied culture – if you ever watched the movie The Karate Kid, you know that Okinawa was the birthplace of karate.

I loved living on this little island with its beautiful beaches, gentle people, and amazing food!

My friends and I would venture off the military base we lived on into town for big steamy bowls of ramen. For about a dollar you got what seemed to be a never-ending bowl of delicious broth filled with noodles and an assortment of other ingredients.

When we moved back to the States, I would make those super inexpensive packages of ramen when I needed some comfort in a bowl.

Unfortunately, real ramen is made with wheat noodles – long thin wheat noodles with a little bit of bite and tang to them.

I was recently in the mood for some ramen and wondering how I could make some using Explore Asian’s Adzuki Bean Spaghetti into a reasonable facsimile. A little research on the web lead me to a trick for making regular spaghetti taste more like ramen noodles – cooking them in baking soda. So I decided to give it a try. The baking soda did give the bean noodles the tang and bite I was looking for and I have to say, I loved the subtle difference it made to the taste. However, the baking soda turned the reddish noodles a greenish color. The color didn’t bother me at all, I was just surprised.

I made a quick ramen-type broth and kept my toppings simple. You could always add slices of cooked meat or chicken and any veggies you want.

All in all, I am quite pleased with my Faux Ramen – as with traditional ramen, it is comfort in a bowl. But a whole lot healthier.

Gluten Free Faux Ramen Recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons kosher or fine sea salt
2 tablespoon baking soda
1 (7.5-ounce) package Explore Asian Adzuki Bean Spaghetti
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
4 green onions, green and white parts sliced, divided use
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
3 cups gluten free chicken broth
1 (1-ounce) package dried mushrooms
¼ cup sake
2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 soft boiled eggs
½ cup bean sprouts
1 Fresno (or other red) pepper, sliced
Sriracha or other hot sauce

Directions

Add the salt and baking soda to a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, about 6 minutes. Drain.

While spaghetti is cooking, make the broth. Heat the oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, the white part of the green onion, and carrots. Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, dried mushrooms, sake, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Cook until the broth is hot and the mushrooms have softened, about 10 minutes. Add the cooked spaghetti to the broth and heat through. Serve in big bowls topped with a peeled soft boiled egg, some of the green parts of the green onions, some bean sprouts, and a few slices of pepper. Add sriracha to taste.

Servings:

A gluten free recipe that serves 4.

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