This recipe is a little ironic, isn’t it?
Normally, instant ramen tries to emulate home-cooked dishes but in this instance, I’m trying to emulate my favourite brand of ramen noodles – Indomie Mi Goreng, which delightfully to have earned a pretty good ranking from the Ramen Rater.
Even though this stuff tastes pretty good in my book and have been my go-to meals on my university days, I try to limit my intake to once in a blue moon for obvious reasons. Anyway, before knowing its existance, the inspiration of making this at home actually came from my dad. When he was studying overseas, he used to cook instant noodles.However, instead of using the seasoning sachets, he concocted his own “sauce” using soy sauce, ketchup, sesame oil and white pepper. I remember when I was little, he made this for me when I was hungry in the middle of the night craving something savoury. (Yes I can be a difficult child sometimes)
So when I was savouring this, it was a walk down to memory lane for me.
Homemade “Instant Mi Goreng”
What you need (for two packets of 85g/3 oz ramen noodles):-
- 1 French shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp kecap manis aka Indonesian sweet soy sauce (adjust to taste) – see here if you want to make your own
- 1 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup) – you can substitute with Sriracha
- A dash of white pepper
- 3 drops of sesame oil
- A pinch of salt or soy sauce (adjust to taste)
- 2 packet of instant noodles (discard the enclosed seasoning sachets)
- Cooking oil
- A recently boiled hot water to cook the noodles
Let’s get started:
(1) Start with making the kecap manis if you decide to make your own. See here for the recipe and instructions. If not, go straight to step two. (2) Thinly slice a French shallot. Pat the sliced shallot with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture before pan frying. (2) Add 2 tbsps of cooking oil and shallot over medium flame. When the shallot starts to sizzle, lower the flame to low and fry until golden brown as per photo above. Set aside in a bowl to cool. (3) In a bowl, add 1/2 tbsp shallot oil, 3 drops of sesame oil, 1/2 tbsp tomato sauce, kecap manis, white pepper and salt and mix until well combine. Set aside. (4) Cook noodles in boiling water according to packet instructions. Once cooked, toss the noodles with the sauce until well mix. Sprinkle the fried shallots just before serving. *Optional* top with a sunny-side up egg and vegetables of your choice.
Note – just so you know the sauce may be on the sweet side because of the tomato sauce and kecap manis. I love my food a little sweet…so if you like yours on the salty side, add salt or soy sauce to taste.
looks very yummy! will try this over the weekend. your blog is very informative and beautiful! keep it up!
holy crap that looks good!
We always have instant mi goreng in the pantry– always Indomie. Now I don’t have to buy it; awesome!!
Actually me too. I think my mum will be appalled if she finds out how much I have eaten the instant mi goreng when I was in uni…she hates those seasonings sachets. So this will make a good compromise.
Here in indonesia we do usually that way, but we also add cornet beef we called it internet (indomie,telur/egg, kornet). Or u can add some cheese too. Enjoy
cheese? That’s an interesting combo I never heard before. Thanks for the tip!
Looks so good and perfect for a quick dinner! Reminds me of Singapore/Malaysia/Bali….
Thank you so much for this wonderful food hack. I’ve been wondering for years how I’d go about making my own spice paste to substitute for when I have no access to Indo Mie (I no longer do for about 3 years now), but after this I think I’ll skip instant entirely.
I used onions in place of shallots, and skipped the sesame oil as I don’t have that in stock, so it definitely misses some major flavours. But that’s the thing — it tastes good already..how much better can it be?
As I’m a Singaporean living abroad, it brings back the local flavours I miss so much.
P.S: I also added ginger and garlic pastes, 1/4 tsp of each.
it was yummy:0
Hi, this looks pretty dang awesome! Did it really taste exactly like indomie or was it just slightly similar to indomie?
Hi Stephanie,
I would not say exactly, but pretty close.
Looks similar enough to indomie though haha good job! How was it different if I may ask? Is it less savory, less sweet, etc.. I mean indomie is famous around the world, must be tough to recreate the flavours.. Oh and one more question, how would you do it differently to make it better?
Try it yourself! Just as easy as asking questions, particularly since Emily has already gone to the trouble of experimenting for us. You can’t go wrong – it’s already delicious, and you can tweak it to taste.
Tried it, loved it. The kids loved it too! Made a large quantity to store in the refrigerator and used half ketchup, half sriracha – it was just right.
Thanks!
Hi Morena,
Thank you for your lovely feedback! I love the tweak you made by halving the ketchup and substituting the remaining half by sriracha! Sounds like you have perfect the chilli sauce part of the homemade instant indomie.
Take care,
Emily x
Lol indomie isn’t ramen, nice recipe btw
Thank you for this recipe – I cannot eat wheat, so I am trying to create Mi Goreng on rice noodles!!
I’ll use Manis Pedas instead of ketchup so it’ll be spicy
Is there a way to make this recipe in the US?