• What is Ramen - a soup with aromatic additives
• Ready-made ramen with shitake mushrooms – why is it worth trying?

Unfortunately, ready meals don't have the best reputation. Whether due to poor ingredients or questionable taste, they were once considered unappealing, yet often a necessary substitute for a home-cooked dinner. However, the market now offers a wide variety of such products, including some that not only delight with their taste, but are also high-quality and easy to prepare—even when you're short on time during the day.

One such product could be ready-made ramen with shiitake mushrooms. A delicious soup, based on high-quality vegetables and aromatic spices, will surely appeal to more than just Japanese cuisine lovers. Therefore, a high-quality ramen soup can enrich your daily menu.

What is Ramen - a soup with aromatic additives

Ramen is a dish strongly associated with Japanese cuisine, although its origins actually lie in China, and many similar dishes can be found in the resources of regional Korean cuisine. The numerous influences of Szechuan and Shanghai cuisine on Japan led to ramen soup becoming one of the country's most popular dishes in the 1940s, after the end of World War II. Its form, a combination of broth with noodles and additives, enabled the creation of new variations of the dish, which over time became characteristic of individual regions of Japan.

It's a great option for lunch or dinner—filling and highly nutritious. Ramen soup is traditionally made with pork bones (tonkotsu) or chicken (shōyu). Popular add-ons include:

• alkaline noodles,
• boiled eggs,
• Nori or seaweed wakame,
• green onion,
• Bacon (Chāshū),
• various vegetables, aromatic oils (e.g. sesame ) and spices.

Nowadays, however, vegan ramen based on vegetable or miso broth is becoming more and more common.

Ready-made ramen with shiitake mushrooms – why is it worth trying?

Why is it worth using ready-made ramen with shiitake mushrooms? First of all, it saves time. The broth preparation process requires a variety of ingredients and is time-consuming. Therefore, cooking a small batch of ramen at home can be complicated and not very cost-effective.

It's worth remembering that in Japan, ramen is considered a quick lunch dish, as well as a meal that can be ordered during an evening with friends—and we're not talking about instant soups here. Ready-made, pasteurized ramen soup with rice noodles simply needs to be heated, making it suitable for both home and workplace preparation.

Vegan ramen is a soup with plant-based ingredients. However, to develop the full flavor of the oriental broth, it is often enriched with shiitake mushrooms. Dried mushrooms give the dish a distinctive umami flavor. Shiitake mushrooms also contain a wealth of vitamins such as B3 and D, as well as minerals. The naturally occurring lentinan, a substance that supports the immune system, is very filling. This type of lunch offers a lot of flexibility in the choice of ingredients, even for those who prefer plant-based foods.

It's time to break with the stereotypes of convenience foods and instead look for products with simple, natural ingredients. This way, you can be sure that even a "quickly" prepared meal is nutritious and full of valuable ingredients.