I am on a bit of a ramen kick right now. More specifically, I'm on a ramyun kick. Ramyun is Korean ramen. The noodles tend to be a little thicker and chewier than the noodles you get in ramen packets from other regions.

TF and I went to the Asian grocery store a couple days ago and got a few packages of Korean fire ramyun. They are... very spicy. But there are some great recipes out there that offer ideas on how to dress them up and make them a little more interesting than standard ramen and, as an added benefit, many of these preparations also help to moderate the spiciness somewhat.

We tried out the creamy fire noodles earlier this week. With all the extra stuff added (and with only half the fire sauce), they were only just barely spicy. I think next time I'd actually add the full amount of fire sauce to them.

Today we tried tuna-mayo fire noodles. These ones (unsurprisingly) came out A LOT spicier than the creamy noodles! The tuna and mayo definitely helped to tone things down a bit. Eating them no longer felt like part of some sort of extreme elimination challenge. But they were still very hot. (Possibly I shouldn't have used the full amount of fire sauce here either, but I didn't want to miss out on any of the delicious flavour!)

If you're like me and enjoy the flavour of the sauce but find the heat a bit intense, you could always try adding more veggies to help tone things down a bit. Or try adding a bit of cheese. Turn it into a bowl of tuna melt ramyun. On the other hand, if you like to turn up the heat on your food, this recipe will probably be right up your alley as is!

Tuna-Mayo Fire Noodles

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 1/2 tin tuna
• 2 Tbsp. mayo
• 1 small green onion, chopped
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/8 onion, minced
• 5-6 slices cucumber, julienned
• other vegetables¹ (optional)
• 1 package Korean fire noodles

Directions

1. Drain the tuna and combine it wiht the mayo, green onion, garlic, and onion and set aside.
2. Prepare the cucumber and whatever other veggies you plan to use.
3. Cook the noodles according to package directions² and then drain most (but not all) of the water. Leave ~1/4 c. of water on the noodles.
4. Mix the fire sauce into the noodles.
5. Top the saucy noodles with the tuna salad and prepared veggies.
6. Garnish with flakes (from the noodle package).

---

¹ I think julienned/shredded nappa cabbage would work well. Shredded carrot might also be good. Corn could also be nice, but I think I'd want to use either corn OR cabbage, not both. ^Back
2 The package says to cook the noodles for 3 1/2 minutes, but we like our noodles more al dente than that, so we only cooked them for ~2 minutes. ^Back