Ka-Me Noodles, Japanese Curly (Chuka Soba), 5 Ounce (Pack of 12)

I'm a vegetarian and I used to buy the prepackaged vegetable ramen soups in those buy 12 for $1.00 deals while i was in college (well, maybe not that low, but I do recall $0.13/pkg on one sale day. The downside to them is they had too much stuff that I rather not ingest anymore."Chuka Soba" noodles are the real deal Ramen Noodles. They are just noodles. 1 bag can of these make 4 bowls of noodle soup with just broth or you can use any base that you want and throw anything you like into them.One word of caution is, they aren't good for leftovers. Those noodles never stop sponging up the broth. So only make what you need. I put a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the noodles in a single package in a 2 quart pot of boiling water and they are done within about 3 minutes. I put the vegetarian-based bullion of my choice into water using a pyrex measuring cup and nuke it in the microwave till the water boils. Drain the noodles in a sieve and then flop the noodles and pour the broth into your soup bowl and you're done. Ramen soup is my fave when I have a cold or my IBS is flaring up (i.e., unlike it's processed counterpart, it's easy on the digestion).These were hard to find, but part of that was my fault. I used to get them at the local grocery store and now no one carries them. Then, thanks to Google, I learned that another name, or rather the common name, for ramen noodles is Chuka or Chuka Soba and the picture for this item clearly depicts what we otherwise know here in the U.S. as ramen noodles.

These aren't really traditional soba noodles, usually made of buckwheat (which I had been looking for).But they sure are good!As other reviewers have explained, they're the same type as ramen noodles. Think of this as essentially a double-pack of plain ramen noodles, without the extra packaging and without the flavor packet.I use these for a very quick, everyday sukiyaki-type of meal for 4 regular or 2 extremely hungry people (with apologies to true Japanese food-lovers, who won't be impressed by my shortcuts):1) Cook a package of these noodles separately according to package instructions, drain, and keep warm (can be done almost at the end of the remaining steps, so that noodles and the meat/veggie topping are both done at about the same time).2) Brown 1/2 pound of ground beef in a large skillet or sauté pan, breaking the beef into smaller and smaller pieces as it cooks.3) About midway through the browning, add 1 very large chopped Spanish onion (or two smaller chopped onions) and 1-3 ribs of chopped celery to the pan, and keep stirring to soften those as well by the time the hamburger is fully browned.4) Remove the meat, onion and celery to a large bowl, keeping them warm, while draining all (or most of) the fat from the pan (can first drain the solids in a colander to make degreasing easier, and even dry the drained meat with paper towels if you really want to minimize fat). Using the original skillet or sauté pan (which you can completely degrease first with paper towels if you're willing to give up the browned bits already in it), quickly saute a package of sliced mushrooms (small or large package, your choice), using fat from the beef if desired, or even just a little tap water, wine, broth or sherry as needed to keep the mushrooms from burning, if, like me, you want to avoid any excess fat.5) (Optional) Toward the end of the sauteeing of the mushrooms, add a bold amount of minced fresh garlic and/or minced fresh ginger to the pan, stirring frequently to keep the garlic/ginger pieces from burning as they soften with the mushrooms.6) Once mushrooms are just about cooked through and their liquid has almost steamed away, add one large package of fresh mung bean sprouts, and stir for a minute or so, just so that they each come into contact with the bottom of the pan.7) Add 2 small cans of beef broth or consomme or 1 larger can or carton to the pan; (optional) add ground garlic or ground ginger if desired in place of fresh if you had omitted either of them back in the optional step 5; add soy sauce to taste; (optional) add a little rice vinegar if you like your Asian food tangy; mix in the reserved beef, onion and celery while the liquid warms up to serving temperature; and then ladle this mixture into individual bowls on top of the warm noodles from step 1.Yum! Great for leftovers, too, especially if you store and then reheat the noodles and meat/veggies separately, so the noodles won't become soggy while soaking up too much of the lovely sauce. We sometimes make a double or triple portion of everything, just to delight in leftovers for a day or two.And this makes the most of a small portion of lean beef (either bought lean, or made lean by draining off all the cooked fat), giving meat lovers a tasty meal with fewer health consequences and on a smaller budget.You can even make it completely vegetarian/vegan with excellent results if you omit the ground beef altogether and use a substantial broth such as Pacific Natural Foods Organic Mushroom Broth, 32-Ounce Containers (Pack of 12) And you can increase the vegetables as you see fit. For example, I love to add a bag of fresh spinach and just barely wilt it either along with or just after the mung bean sprouts in step 6. Of course, if you use large containers of mushrooms, bean sprouts and also add other veggies, consider increasing the amount of broth and also cooking more than one package of noodles as the amount of fresh food to be served over them increases.Also, kids tend to love this. It went over well with my kids and their friends who came over for dinner. My son used to ask for it once or twice a week (though of course he'd up the percentage of ground beef in it whenever he had the chance!). :)One more thing: this is a great way to use up leftover grilled or barbecued hamburgers!!! Just break them up into small crumbles and throw the crumbles into the pan together with the chopped onions/celery in step two (along with a little water, broth, wine, sherry, fat or oil, if necessary to prevent burning) before they are added back into the mushroom and sauce mix in step 7. Also works well with frozen ground beef: put it unthawed into the pan, sauté on slightly lower heat at first while you keep turning it and breaking warmed pieces off the frozen block, and expect to spend a little more time before it's halfway browned and ready for the addition of chopped onions/celery in step 2.Hope you all love this as much as my family does!

These are pretty good for a Miso soup i make.I can even do the entire thing in one bowl in the microwave! Make the soup, add the noodles and nuke it for 3 minutes on high.Be careful taking it out, it will be extremely hot, remember it boiled for a few minutes.Then let rest for another few minutes to cool to a comfortable temperature. By that point, the noodles are soft and yummy.My recommendation is to break them apart before you add them. The noodles are gigantic and really hard to eat in one long piece.So i break it up with my hands into something like 1-3" long strips.If you like a lot of noodles. go for half of one of the noodle bricks. If you like a small amount, go for a quarter brick.Definitely worth the cost, especially since i can make a good meal in 5 minutes in the microwave!

I have bought these noodles before and loved them, but this time, when they arrived, they had been shipped in only their own box with no cushioning. As a result, every package had at least 50% crumbled noodles. So, the noodles themselves are good, but the shipping this time was terrible.