The Spicy Korean Noodle Challenge
So my crazy little sister came home one day raving about this Korean noodle challenge and how she and a colleague tried it and spent their entire lunch hour crying.
I was like, what kind of instant noodle can even be *that* spicy?! So I told her to bring some home and I would try it. I mean, I can take pretty spicy food. I deal with banana leaf rice & curry, habaneros, Thai food with plenty of chili and spices, this shouldn't have been that big a problem.
(I have friends delivering their second child and here I am trying to burn a hole in my intestines)
It is RM20 for 5 packets. For those who aren't really great with math, that's RM4 for one bowl of noodles that will probably not be worth your money.
So we cooked a packet each and sat down to "enjoy" our dinner. The colour itself should have stirred a little bit of fear in me, but I can be foolish.
I took the first bite, second, third, fourth... The spiciness began to set it, the burn was quite strong but I kept going...
Mouthful #5 had me slamming down my chopsticks and grabbing my glass of water. I downed that in record time. With the water sloshing around with the spicy noodles in my stomach, I made a run for the fridge and grabbed an entire carton of milk and proceeded to start drinking that.
I had to take a break after that while downing more milk. It took about 10 minutes for my mouth to even return to a somewhat normal level of heat. I could feel my lips swell up and in that moment I could have rivalled Jay-Z.
I decided to continue with my meal. I threw another carton of milk in the refrigerator in anticipation of round 2.
I managed to take about another 6 mouthfuls before having to dash to the cool relief of milk.
My lips swelled up to a healthy Kylie Jenner size and I had tears running down my cheeks, my face was bursting with sweat and I was as red as a tomato.
I waited another half hour before finishing off the last 6 mouthfuls.
My sister was sitting next to me, tears streaming down her face as she attempted to finish her noodles, gulping down milk in between bites.
It's pretty funny to watch as both of us fan our faces and release guttural noises from our throats. Our mother watches by in half pity, half wonderment - probably questioning herself on her parenting skills.
We finish off our food, crying, sweating, our stomachs churning. The greatest part comes in the form of burps and farts from the fiery pits of hell that is now our stomachs. The burping is more like gurgling and the farts smell like something died - something in us probably did.
I don't know why anyone would willingly put themselves through this kind of physical and mental torture. But at least I can say I've tried the spicy Korean noodle challenge. Have you?
Edit: So, once you're done with the actually eating and digesting... Make sure you have a clean toilet (preferably not in public because of epic fart noises) to run to. And I do mean RUN. And prepare for the fiery pits of hell to exit violently from your body with no mercy. You have been warned.
Edit 2: Having said all of that, I would actually try this again.
Edit 3: Or maybe not. It's 4-5 hours later and I'm still burping and my stomach feels funky.
Edit 4: It is day 2. I'm still on and off the toilet bowl. This is not good. I fly off to Taiwan tomorrow morning.