'Traditional' Ramen

When times get tough, money is your main concern. You pay your rent, your bills, your car, and any other expenses that need to be paid and what you are left with to buy food can sometimes seem like pocket change.

So I am starting a new five part article to give you some new recipes that are delicious, filling, and healthy, but most importantly ,dirt cheap.

If you are a student, have money troubles, or just want to save a little money, then this is for you. Please note these recipes will serve one person but can be altered for more people.

Part 1 'Traditional' Ramen

We have all eaten this at one time or another but for some of us (including me) we have been doing it all wrong.

To us, ramen is just a cheap snack to fill us up as it is only water noodles and flavouring, right? Wrong. Ramen is a big part of Japanese cuisine and can also look like a work of art.

It usually consists of meat, noodles, eggs, and veg all covered in a broth/ soup. So let's get started.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 chicken breast
• 1 pack of ramen/ noodles
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 table spoon of ginger
• Soy sauce
• 1/2 an onion
• 1 cup of water

Let's get cooking:

1. Now for the egg. Place the egg in the boiling broth and cook to your taste (I prefer hard boiled, but soft boiled is fine). Once cooked, place the egg in cold water and set aside for later.
2. Now for the chicken. Cut your chicken breast into strips of cubes with a little salt and pepper. Fry your chicken in a separate pan on high heat until it is piping hot. Now reduce the heat to low to keep the chicken hot.
3. Now for the noodles. Take your noodles out of their packet and add to the broth (If you want to, you can also add the flavour packet too) and cook for the time stated on the packet.
4. Now that everything is cooked, it is time to start assembling your bowl.
5. First you add your noodles to the bowl.
6. Add your chicken to one side of the bowl
7. Now peel your egg and and cut it in half long ways. Now place the egg on the other side of your bowl.
8. Now pour in your broth until you cover the noodles but not so much you cover the chicken and eggs.
9. I know what you are thinking. "But you forgot the onion." But I didn't.
10. Place your diced onion in the centre of the bowl and enjoy.
11. I prefer to keep the onion raw as I like the crunch it brings to the dish but if you want to cook it, then just add it to the same pan as your chicken once you have reduced the heat.

As a chef who has recently hit some financial trouble, it really opened my eyes to getting more creative when cooking at home. So I thought I would write the recipes to help you through the tough times. I am only planning on writing this as a five part "series," but if it proves popular with people, then I will consider writing more.

Thank you so much for reading this article and have a good day.