INGREDIENTS
(This recipe serves 4 or 5)
Note: if you are planning on having sliced pork with your ramen you should prepare this in advance.
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 cm square of ginger, finely grated
4 spring onions
4 tbsp sesame seeds
sesame oil
6 tbsp miso
1 tsp spicy tobanjyan (if you prefer a more spicy soup, increase the tobanjyan and decrease the miso by the same amount.
4 tbsp cooking sake
6 tbsp soy sauce
4 cups of unsweetened soy milk
2 cups of kombu dashi
Pack of fresh ramen noodles (4 servings)
 |
| Picture 1. |
 |
| Picture 3 |
 |
| Picture 2 |
Picture 1: L-R (i) Tobanjyan - Chilli bean paste (broad bean and soy bean).(ii) Non spicy tobanjyan bean paste. I tried making the soup with this and was less successful, but there may be other brands that will work better if you prefer no spiciness to your soup. (iii) Miso paste. I got all these from a local Asian supermarket.
Picture 2: 2 kinds of concentrated dashi or Tsuyu. The one on the left os made with Kombu (a type of seaweed) and Shiitake mushrooms. The one on the right is only Konbu. Read the instructions on how much water to add to the concentrate to make your dashi. In my case it was 3 parts water to one part concentrate. Both these were available in the same Asian supermarket.
Picture 3: Fresh ramen noodles. These were harder to find and I was about to attempt to make them myself when I discovered them in an Asian grocers in the chilled section. Buy more than you need and freeze them for the next time.
Soy milk. It is important you use unsweetened soy milk. I use VitaSoy Calci Plus unsweetened which is widely avail;able here.
TOPPINGS
The sliced green halves of spring onions.
Roast rolled boneless shoulder of pork, sliced thinly. (If you leave this out this dish is entirely vegetarian)
Boiled eggs, sliced in half lengthwise
Can of sweetcorn kernels, drained
Beansprouts, blanched
Sheets of nori seaweed
Any other cooked vegetables you like, such as bok choy, bamboo shoots)
METHOD
To make the soup
In a dry frying pan, dry roast the sesame seeds for 1 or 2 minutes. Grind the toasted seeds in a pesle and mortar or in a coffee grinder.. Set to one side.
Separate the spring onions into white and green halves. Chop the white stems finely. Chop the green halves into fine rings.
In a large pan fry the garlic, ginger and the chopped white part of the spring onion in sesame oil over a low heat until they soften and the aromas are released. Add the miso and tobanjyan and stir with a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients and to sop them from burning. Then add the sake and use the spoon to unstuck any of the sauce that has stuck to the pan. Then add the soy sauce and toasted ground sesame.Stir to mix thoroughly. Now add the soy milk slowly, stirring all the time to dissolve the miso paste and heat gently.
Finally stir in the kombu dashi and add salt and white pepper to taste. The soup is now ready. Set aside and warm when ready to serve.
To cook the noodles
In a large pot bring several litres of water to the boil. Separate the noodles into 4 servings, making sure the noodles aren't stuck together.
Warm the soup.
Add one or two servings at a time to the boiling water. Cook as per instructions on the pack or to taste. Remove noodles from boiling water with a sieve spoon. Place in serving bowls and cover with soup. Dress with toppings to taste. Repeat for all the servings.
