Instant Korean Hot Pot & Fried Noodles - for Short Cut Freaks

I know we roll our eyes every time we overheard such a conversation:

A: What do you want for dinner?
B: Anything...(whatever/up to you/etc)
A: How about chicken?
B: No...I don't feel like chicken tonight...
A: How about fried rice?
B: Nah...I just had fried rice last night.
A: OK, steak then?
B: Hmmm...too much protein for today...

...and we're thinking, oh gosh, B is such a bitch (even if B's a he).

But sometimes, we couldn't help but having a B moment.
Happened to me last weekend.

Every suggestion sous chef threw me was answered by the word "EW!" in my brain.
Until we got to "hot pot"...and my brain went "OH YEAH~"

So, hot pot it was.
We've been talking about doing a Korean-ish hot pot for quite a while, but obviously didn't prepare enough to have it done last minute.

I needed instant gratification and got it from...

2 packs of Kimchi Shin Ramyun...(3 packs if you like it SUPER hot)


plus a pack of kimchi, plus Korean chilli paste.
Tongue-on-fire.
Prepare non carbonated sweet drinks just in case you can't handle the heat.

Heat up a pot of chicken/beef/vegetable stock, throw dried kimchi and vegetables in, then the seasoning powder...


Add more kimchi and chilli paste if you don't mind the heat (perfect for cold days)


Throw in your favorite hot pot goodies...ours?

My favorite hot pot veggie of all time, tong ho!
My super fragrant flavor absorbent, and they photograph like heaven!


SC's favorite...various balls, mini cheese dogs and dumplings.
How cute are those in the shape of lil fish?


...and fresh beef.
Not American fat cow (sorry about the name, direct translation from Chinese, courtesy of SC), not marinated beef, just good ol' plain fresh beef from our butcher downstairs. We also had some mushrooms and silky smooth tofu. Yum!

Dump stuff into boiling soup base...

Pick em up when they're cooked, and enjoy.
The above may not seem much, but get us totally stuffed and we had plenty of leftovers, including the noodles.
What to do with them?

Make...
Korean Spicy Fried Noodles

Boil noodles until half done in the hot pot soup base, drain, set aside.


Saute leftovers in a bit of hot olive oil...season with a bit of soy sauce.


Add noodles...


Add chilli paste...
...and this should've been added in the beginning to caramelise a little, but I forgot, so I added them last...

But it's ok, it's not something that concerns national security, so no biggie.

Add a bit of greens if you had some, I added spring onion...add seasoning if necessary...cook them until the noodles are a bit dry. This does need quite a bit of oil. Remember not to overcook the noodles.

...we packed this for next day's lunch.
Nothing's wasted, everybody's happy.

PS. Happy Christmas eve yo~!