Kick-Off: Ramen Stir-Fry

Okay, so it's time to put a recipe here already, hmm? We'll begin with a Chinese-inspired recipe involving ramen noodles. Okay, not very impressive on the exotic scale - at all - but you may still enjoy it.

RAMEN STIR-FRY

• 1 packet instant ramen noodles
• 1 cup frozen stir-fry vegetables
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp. hoisin sauce or plum sauce

1. Boil the ramen noodles in 2 cups of water a saucepan. Don't use the seasoning packet that comes with the noodles.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the veggies and stir-fry them until they're crisp-tender.
3. Add the vegetables to the cooked noodles and reduce the heat on the noodles to medium-high. Cook until most of the water evaporates, but do leave some water. Add the hoisin or plum sauce and stir well.

Serves 2 or 4, depending on how big their appetites are.

NOTES

• Hoisin or plum sauce? It depends on what kind of taste you prefer. Hoisin sauce will give you a bold, savory flavor, while plum sauce will tend more toward the delicate, sweet-and-sour side. Experiment!
• Use fresh vegetables if you prefer - broccoli, bell peppers, etc. I like using the frozen veggies because they help to cut back on cost (at my Wal-Mart, they're $1.68 for a one-pound bag) and preparation time.
• Hoisin sauce and plum sauce can be found in the Asian or ethnic food section of many supermarkets. (Aisle 5 at my Wal-Mart.)
• This is a great meal for when you have little time or money. Mind, it's not terribly healthy, since it contains ramen noodles and some sugar from the sauce. But it's a quick, satisfying, comfortable meal for a long, busy day.

WELCOME ABOARD

Hello, readers, and thanks for visiting SMALL WALLET, BIG FLAVOR, the awesomeness that will soon be the most-talked about food blog on the Internet! (Stop rolling your eyes, it could happen.)

This blog is partly a healthy outlet for my strongest carnal instinct - the one that makes me consume two boxes of Pocky a day and order the mysterious and unidentifiable entree at restaurants. I love food. And if that food is incredibly delicious, so much the better.

Now, so many people have narrow ideas about what is good food, even about what is edible food. That's a shame. The world is a big place, with many different cultures and different ways to cook. So why should we limit ourselves to hot dogs and apple pie? Life is too short for that kind of narrow thinking. This blog is written partly in hopes of encouraging timid eaters to be a little more adventurous.

Other people would love to experience all the delights that the world of food has to offer, but either can't afford it or can't find it. I'm in this category. Being a student (and a birdbrain) I find it a little hard to scrounge up money for certain exotic ingredients or expensive spices. And even if I could afford them, I couldn't access them. I live in a largely rural county in North Carolina, which is facing an economic downswing after a slump in the manufacturing industry. So, yeah, it's a little hard to find dashi stock in a town where folks have to gather all their nerve to switch brands of instant oatmeal. This blog is also written for my broke friends who are stuck buying food from Wal-Mart - you're not alone, guys!

If you don't fall into the Timid or the Broke category, then awesome! You can get the best and weirdest ingredients, and you probably know how to use them! I hope, if you choose to read anyway, that you'll find good ways to save money or some new recipes to enjoy.

Don't misunderstand me and think I don't care about traditional Southern soul food - I do! Fried okra, cornbread, barbecue pork, sweet tea - I love them all. But this particular blog is for food you can find on a journey of hours or days from your home, not food you can find at the Fuzzy's restaurant five minutes away. Sweet tea is great - but it's just one of hundreds of ways to serve tea, okay?

So, there you have it - Small Wallet, Big Flavor: Where the faint of budget or palate can find easy, frugal, and fun ways to experiment with international cuisine. Welcome aboard, me hearties!