Quick and Delightful Homemade Miso Ramen

I must admit that I'm not 100% ramen expert!

... because we don't eat ramen on a regular basis?
... but this doesn't mean that I can't cook nice ramen for my family.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not underestimating the art of cooking ramen here! I'm sure that the restaurant-standard kind of ramen can be extremely technical and time consuming to cook. As I'm not 100% ramen expert, I'm guessing that most ramen experts would say the quality of most ramen depend on its soup base. For this reason, I'm not surprised that most famous ramen restaurants will spend hours and even days to create their ramen soup base. Being a working mum, I can't spend hours and days to cook ramen soup!!! Since we are not 100% ramen experts, we wouldn't mind eating our ramen cooked in our express way...

This rather quick ramen recipe that I'm using today is mostly adapted from Just One Cookbook and mine is this super humble version...

This is my homemade miso ramen.

All I need to do are 1) cook the soup base 2) prepare the add-on ingredients 3) cook the noodles 4) Assemble all together 5) Serve!

One: The soup base

To me, the art of cooking ramen soup broth can be really complicated. Accordingly to Wikipedia, ramen soup is broadly divided into four categories: 1) the Shio which is salt and clear broth base 2) Tonkotsu which is made with boiling pork bones and has a cloudy white coloured base 3) the Shoyu kind which is seasoned with soy sauce with clear brown base 4) the Miso kind with miso paste

Ours is the instant kind made of this red miso paste...

The miso paste that we used.

Two: The add-on ingredients

Typically, they are:
chashu (meaning sliced barbecued or braised pork)
scallions or leek
boiled egg
bean or bean sprouts
menma (lactate-fermented bamboo shoots)
kakuni (braised pork cubes or squares)
nori (dried seaweed)
narutomaki/kamaboko (formed fish paste)
corn kernels
crunchy panko topping! Got this idea from Pinch of Yum. I know this is not a traditional ingredients to eat with ramen but we are loving it. 

For ours, I have added minced chicken, boiled egg, bean sprouts, corn kernel and nori. Serve with pickled ginger and crunchy panko topping. I have also noticed that some ramen soup can be spicy and some are not and it is up to individual preference. For my spicy-food-loving husband, I have added la-yu (Japanese chili oil) into his ramen.

Our add-on ingredients.

Crunchy panko - My son loves this the most!

Three: The noodle

Ramen can comes in various shapes and lengths. It can be thick, thin, ribbon-like, straight or wrinkled. For ours, I have used this...

The ramen noodle that we used. Pretty good!

Four: Cooking and assembling the ramen

This is what I did...

Roast sesame seeds

Sauté garlic, ginger and shallot and cook chicken mince until golden brown.

Turn off the heat and then stir in the miso paste.

Assemble all ingredients into a bowl.

Five: Serve!

slurp!

This quick and humble ramen is very satisfying to eat! Told you that we are not 100% ramen expert!!! LOL!

Without saying much, this is the adapted recipe that I used...

Serves 3-4

Getting ready the toppings:
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup enoki mushrooms
2 boiled eggs, halved (can be hard or soft boiled according to preference)
nori (seasoned seaweed)
spring onion, finely sliced
kizami shoga (pickled ginger)
crunchy panko*
la-yu (Japanese chili oil)

To make crunchy golden panko, toss the panko with a 2-3 tbsp of cooking oil. Spread the mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a pre-heated 180°C or 160°C fan forced with top grill oven for 10 mins, tossing in every 2-3 mins until golden and crispy.

For the soup:
1 tbsp sesame oil
4 large garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tbsp ginger, finely minced
2 shallot, finely minced
250g chicken mince
2 tbsp sake
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp sesame seeds, roasted and roughly ground
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
6 tbsp red miso

To cook the ramen:
3-4 serves ramen noodle
sufficient water to cook the noodle

In a large cooking pot, bring 8 cups (2 L) of water to boil. This boiling water is for cooking the soup.

Fill another large cooking pot with 2/3 full of water and bring it to boil. This boiling water is for cooking the ramen.

In another large cooking pot, heat sesame oil over medium heat. Sauté garlic, ginger, and shallot until they are soft and fragrant. Increase heat to medium high, add chicken mince and cook until the meat become golden brown.

Add hot water into the chicken mixture. Then, add sake, sugar, sesame seeds, salt and white pepper. Bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. Stir in the miso paste. Please do not add miso paste into boiling soup as miso will lose its delicate flavours after boiling.

Ready to serve? Now, cook the noodle in the boiling water according to the instructions stated by the manufacturer.

Meanwhile, pour the ramen soup base (including the chicken) in the serving bowl. Check the tenderness of the noodle. When it is ready, drain the cooking water immediately and transfer the noodle in the soup. Place toppings and serve immediately.

Happy Cooking
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