Throughout our third culture childhoods between Asia and America, KChan and I got to see ketchup used in food in completely different ways.
In Asia, ketchup is often used as a sauce ingredient and cooked directly into main dishes. KLee’s mom cooks an Asian dish called tomatoes and eggs with a ginger ketchup sauce that adds a bit of sweetness (try this dish on some rice – you will fall in love).
Meanwhile, in America, we grew up using ketchup as a condiment on burgers, fries, and hot dogs. We can’t even imagine ordering fries from In N Out without using any ketchup.
Despite it’s now near universal appeal, ketchup has had a long history of being remixed.
In the 17th Century, the Chinese mixed pickled fish and spices and called it ke-chiap. In the 18th Century, the U.K. prepared ketchup using mushrooms. It really wasn’t until a century after the original types that tomato-based ketchup appeared.
A few weeks ago, KLee opened his refrigerator door and looked at all of the sauces. Our eyes came to a bottle of ketchup that was 3/4 full.
We decided to challenge ourselves to make an immi ramen dish using ketchup as our secret ingredient and this was the result.
PrintStir Fried Spicy Mi Goreng Ramen
Ingredients
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 piece of firm tofu
- Several green onions
- 1 red chili
- 1 lime
- 1/2 lb. of chicken
- 8 shrimp
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (kecap manis) â for a keto-friendly version, heat up tamari and xylitol on a saucepan and stir together.
- 3Â tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 3 tbsp of chili paste (sambal)
- White pepper
- Handful of bean sprouts
- 3 eggs
- 1 serving of immi ramen noodles
Instructions
Prep
- Mince 3 cloves of garlic
- Cut 1 piece of tofu into thin slices
- Chop several green onions for garnish
- Chop 1 red chili for garnish
- Cut 1 lime into wedges
- Slice ½ lb of chicken into thin slices
- Peel 8 shrimp
Sauce
- In a bowl, add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (kecap manis), 3 tablespoon tomato ketchup, and 1 tsp oyster sauce
- Add salt and white pepper to taste
Cooking
- Boil your immi ramen noodles
- Heat the wok and pour in the cooking oil
- Add minced garlic, 3 tbsp of chili paste (sambal)
- Add the tofu, shrimp, and chicken
- Add immi noodles
- Add sauce and stirÂ
- After the noodles and sauce are evenly mixed, move the noodles to the side of the wok
- Add in the beansprouts
- Add more cooking oil and scramble 3 eggs.
Assembly
- Transfer wok contents to a plate
- For garnish, sprinkle the chopped green onions and red chili slices
- Squeeze a lime over the final plate
- Enjoy!
Visual Recipe