Let me start this off by saying, there is no truer love I will ever have than instant ramen. It was always the perfect meal for when I was home alone as a kid, and it’s still the perfect meal for when I don’t feel like walking to a dining hall. Forever and always, ramen will be in my life.
But past my love for instant ramen is of course the second truest love I’ll ever have in my life: hot pot. Growing up in my Asian American household, we would have hot pot on every single semi-special occasion. Birthday? Hot pot. Thanksgiving? Hot pot. Friends visiting? Hot pot. For as long as I have been alive, I have known these two meals like I know the back of my hand, and finally, just in time for Asian Pacific Islander Month, they have recently been combined into a new mouthwatering trend: Ramen Hot Pot.
What is ramen hot pot?
Ramen hot pot is, and this may shock you, basically a combination of ramen and hot pot. It was made popular by Asian food creators such as Foodierandy and Wen Daily Life. Typically, how hot pot is made is through a continuous boil of a soup with a hot pot base, and then cooking and eating ingredients as you go. And while ramen is usually an ingredient that can be added to hot pot, it’s still not technically ramen hot pot.
Ramen hot pot is most similar to another Chinese dish called “malatang,” which is frequently described as a personal hot pot. The difference lies in the fact that ramen hot pot strictly features the broth of the ramen that you choose, and malatang has a very distinct numbing, savory broth.
What is unique about ramen hot pot is that the base of it is ramen. You take a pack of your favorite ramen, add it to a pot, and then add your favorite hot pot ingredients afterwards. All of this then gets cooked together and you would enjoy it in a bowl as you would with any bowl of noodles.
A recipe you can start with is a classic Shin Ramyun with some sliced beef, enoki mushrooms, fish balls, rice cakes, bok choy, and some fried tofu; but of course, the best part of ramen hot pot is that you can personalize it to whatever you like.
Why should you try ramen hot pot?
Well for starters, if you love ramen and you love hot pot and you are guaranteed to love ramen hot pot. Even if you love ramen, and haven’t really tried hot pot, you are still pretty guaranteed to love ramen hot pot.
It’s a great way to level up your ramen in a way that’s fun and flavorful, and there are a million different combinations you can explore and try.