by: Jacob Ye
Imagine it is your freshman year again. You’ve just finished unpacking your bags, filled to the brim with objects reminiscent of your hometown. Now tired from the exertion, you look forward to exploring the college of your dreams, and of course, its food. Just a few weeks ago, I was in that exact place, starting off my freshman year at BC. Since then I’ve been all around campus, exploring the various food options offered at Mac, Lower, the Rat, and although I live on Upper, even the Newton dining hall. But soon, the feeling of missing the nostalgic taste of home grew to unbearable levels.
This is a meal I made almost every single day at home. I remember how I would run up the driveway after school with a pep in my step while looking forward to it. Made in under ten minutes, and with less than ten dollars worth of ingredients, which I would slide sneakily into my parents shopping cart as we roamed around the supermarket. In a way, I feel this meal represents what I initially thought would be the “college meal experience.” While the recipe below will cover what I call the “full experience” with three sides, feel free to customize!
Ingredients:
1 cup Shin Black Ramen
1 scallion
1 egg
Side 1: Fried Rice
1 cup cold white rice
1 Chinese sausage
1 scallion
Side 2: SPAM Musubi
1 can SPAM
1 sheet seaweed
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup cold white rice
1 tablespoon sugar
Side 3: Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls
1 sheet Vietnamese rice paper
1 carrot
1 cucumber
1 beef smoked sausage
Directions:
To start off the main dish, boil 3 cups of water in a small saucepan. Add in the noodles from the cup of Shin Black Ramen. Meanwhile, mix egg until completely golden and smooth. Drizzle the egg onto the noodles while slowly turning the saucepan. After three minutes, turn the heat to the lowest setting and add the powder flavoring packets. Mix well and add scallions when fully cooked.
The other three side dishes may be either cooked together on one large nonstick pan or separately, as convenient.
For the fried race, start off by cutting up the Chinese sausages into small disks. Turn the heat to medium and put the sausage in, allowing them to cook until completely red. Add a cup of white rice and mix well with the sausage; cook until there is light browning on the sausages. Put into a bowl to cool and add chopped up scallions to finish.
For the SPAM musubi cut up the SPAM into quarter inch thick slices. Drown in the cup of soy sauce and let soak for 2 minutes, mixing in with the tablespoon of sugar. After that, place onto the pan at medium heat and cook until lightly browned. Meanwhile, shape the cold rice with your hands, adding water as needed to help soften. Try to shape them into rectangles that are as long as your thumb widthwise and your index finger lengthwise. Cut the seaweed sheet into 2-inch wide strips. After the SPAM is done cooking, place onto the rice beds and wrap with seaweed strips, adding dabs of water all around to help stick. (Note: you can also add the cup of soy sauce to your fried rice for extra flavoring!)
For the Vietnamese rice paper rolls, cup up the carrots and cucumbers into rectangular prisms that are about ¼ x ¼ inches wide on the ends. Do the same for the sausage and place into the pan, cooking until brown. Meanwhile, place the rice paper sheet into a plate filled with water and let it soak for 10 seconds. Add the sausage, carrots, and cucumbers to the sheet and roll it up so it looks like one long cylinder. Enjoy it as is, or simply use a knife to cut into smaller bite sized sections.
Enjoy!
Cover Photo Courtesy of Jacob Ye
Gusto Journal 