Is there no end to the wonders Cup Noodle is capable of?

Once we’ve finished off all the noodles in your instant ramen, most of us look at the leftover broth and feel like we have to make a choice between “drink” and “dump.” However, Nissin, makers of Cup Noodle, know better, and they’ve recently shared a third option with us: using the broth to make an ice cream dessert! Wait…what?

To be clear, we’re not talking about the unforgettably traumatizing Cup Noodle ice cream that sprinkled Cup Noodle toppings like dried shrimp and pork on a swirl of soft serve. This is something completely different, and Nissin calls it the Cup Noodle Mitarashi Ice Cream, with mitarashi being a type of sweet soy glaze used in traditional Japanese sweets. Oddly enough, though, the recipe contains no soy sauce.

Ingredients:
● Leftover Cup Noodle Broth
● 1 tablespoon katakuriko (potato starch)
● 2 tablespoons sugar
● 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream

Step 1

Since you can’t buy just the broth, make and deliciously enjoy a Cup Noodle cup, eating all the noodles and toppings.

Step 2

Transfer the leftover broth to a microwave-safe bowl, using a strainer if necessary to remove any leftover toppings. Add the potato starch and sugar, then mix well with a spoon.

Step 3

Heat for 30 seconds in the microwave at 500 watts. Once the time is up, take the bowl back out and mix well again, until you’ve got a consistency like the one shown in the above photo.

Step 4

Let the sauce cool, pour it onto the ice cream, and you’re finished!

Our Japanese-language reporter K. Masami was handling ramen-eating/cooking/taste-testing duties this day, and she admits to being very skeptical about the assignment. As tasty as it is, Cup Noodle broth has a very strong flavor, and not one that you’d imagine can make a pleasant contribution to a sweet dessert. Taking a taste of the sauce by itself didn’t put her mind at ease, either. Sure, the added potato starch and sugar made it a little sweeter, but it still tasted like ramen broth, and Masami thought she’d rather toss in some more noodles than drizzle it over ice cream.

But she’d come this far, so she did add the Cup Noodle-base sauce to her sweets, forced herself to take a bite, and was shocked.

It really did taste like a mitarashi sweet soy glaze! Worried that her brain might be broken, she took another bite, and there is was again, a delicious mitarashi-like sensation, even though she hadn’t added any soy sauce at all to the mixture.

Masami isn’t sure why this phenomenon occurs, and Nissin doesn’t offer any explanation either, though it’s clear the ramen maker knows it happens, since it calls the recipe Cup Noodle Mitarashi Ice Cream. As happy as she is to have found a new dessert to love, Masami realizes that to anyone who hasn’t tried this recipe for themselves, her taste test notes probably sound like the ravings of a madwoman. That’s OK, though. She wouldn’t believe herself either if she hadn’t eaten this mysterious dessert, but now that she has, she’ll be faced with the difficult choice between ice cream or egg custard every time she has leftover Cup Noodle broth.

Related: Nissin
Photos ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]