Instant noodles
The fried thin noodle cake under every café breakfast bowl: 餐蛋麵, satay beef noodles, five-spice pork noodles. Hong Kong's two brands are Nissin Demae Ramen (出前一丁, the sesame-oil pack is the café one) and Doll (公仔麵), and this one record covers both. Woolworths and Coles carry the Nissin line under the names Nissin Ramen Sesame Oil and Nissin Noodle Soup Sesame Oil, with Demae dropped from the tag; Doll reaches Asian grocers only (online ones too) and no supermarket. The flavour range in Australia is about a third of Hong Kong's; Asian grocers carry more: black garlic tonkotsu, five-spice beef, seafood, chicken, curry, Hokkaido miso.
Cautions: read first
- The noodle cake contains wheat; the sesame-oil sachet contains sesame, and other flavours' soup sachets can contain soy, fish, prawn or egg, all mandatory-declaration allergens in Australia, so read the pack.
Preparation
Drop the cake into boiling water, lift it as soon as it loosens and add it to the soup; the café cooks it straight in the soup, and either works.
Origin
Osaka (Nissin Demae Ramen); Hong Kong (Winner Food Products' Doll). Nissin sesame-oil singles (100g) and 5-packs at Woolworths and Coles, plus Hokkaido miso and Kyushu black 5-packs at Woolworths; Doll from Asian grocers, in store or online.
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
Where · Woolworths and Coles (Nissin sesame oil); Asian grocers and Umall (Doll and the wider flavour range)
What to ask for · The supermarket tag drops Demae; look for Nissin and Sesame Oil
If it is not there · Either brand for the other; any thin fried noodle cake for 餐蛋麵
