← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 200 g thinly sliced pork belly, cut into 3 cm pieces
• 1 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• 2 cloves Garlic, grated
• 1 tsp Ginger, grated
• 100 g shiitake and shimeji mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Spring onion, whites and greens sliced separately
• 1 tbsp doubanjiang (chilli bean paste)
• 300 ml Dashi powder or stock
• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Mirin
• 1 tbsp Miso paste
• 2 tbsp Japanese sesame paste or tahini
• 1½ tbsp Rice vinegar
• 2 portions of thick fresh ramen noodles
• 2 ramen eggs or soft-boiled eggs, halved
• 1 sheet Nori, cut into quarters
• 2 tbsp bonito flakes, crushed to a powder (optional)

Method

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil for the noodles.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and fry the pork for 2–3 min until browned. Add the garlic, ginger, mushrooms and spring onion whites and cook for 2 min more, then stir in the doubanjiang for 30 seconds.
3. Pour in the dashi, soy sauce and mirin and simmer for 5 min. Off the heat, whisk in the miso and sesame paste, then the vinegar. It should taste much stronger and saltier than a ramen soup, because the noodles carry only a little each dip.
4. Cook the noodles for 1 minute longer than the packet says, then rinse them under cold running water, rubbing off the starch, and drain very well.
5. Pile the noodles onto plates with the egg and nori. Reheat the broth until steaming, pour it into small deep bowls, and top with the spring onion greens and a pinch of bonito powder.
6. Dip a mouthful of noodles into the hot broth and slurp. When the noodles are gone, top up the leftover broth with hot dashi or water and drink it as soup.

Tips

• Thick, curly noodles hold the broth best; use 2 portions of thick udon if you cannot find them.
• Topping up the broth at the end is called soup-wari; ramen shops will do it for you if you ask.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Chopstick Chronicles