Ramen: a tasty Japanese dish

Ramen is a typical Japanese dish consisting of wheat noodles served in meat and/or fish broth, often flavoured with soy sauce or miso and garnished with roast pork, nori seaweed, kamaboko (surimi), negi (spring onion) and sometimes corn. Every region of Japan has its own variation of ramen, from tonkotsu ramen (pork bone broth) in Kyūshū to miso ramen in Hokkaidō.

Let's find out how to prepare delicious ramen

The three main flavours of ramen broth are shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce) and miso. These are also the basic ingredients that ramen restaurants use to develop their flavours. This is where restaurants get creative and come up with secret and unique recipes. Ramen masters add their own blend of umami-rich ingredients to the broth, such as dried seaweed or seafood, animal bones, vegetables or herbs, making their dish unique. Three basic ingredients are needed to make ramen: soup, noodles and toppings.

Miso soup

Noodles

Condiments

Step 1: the ramen soup

To prepare a tasty miso ramen soup, you need five essential ingredients:

o miso

o bean sauce/paste, or for a spicy ramen, use chilli bean paste 

o sesame seeds and sesame oil

o chicken broth

o white pepper powder

Il miso

Miso is a fermented soybean paste and is one of the essential seasonings in Japanese cuisine. The flavour varies depending on the type of miso you use, so we recommend using the type of miso that you like best.

Chilli bean sauce/paste for a spicy flavour

Chilli bean paste is a condiment that gives your soup a more intense flavour. The recommended amount is one teaspoon, but you can increase or decrease the amount according to your taste.

Sesame seeds and sesame oil

The flavour of sesame in this recipe is essential, as both sesame seeds and oil enrich the broth, giving it a pleasant taste and an intense aroma. Dark toasted sesame oil is recommended.

Homemade or shop-bought chicken stock

For a richer, more flavourful broth, homemade chicken broth is the best.

White pepper powder

A sprinkling of white pepper will give your soup an even stronger flavour without making it spicy.

Step 2: Tagliatelle

To prepare the noodles for our ramen, we need four basic ingredients: wheat flour, salt, water and kansui, or salt water. Kansui is a type of alkaline mineral water containing sodium carbonate and usually potassium carbonate, and sometimes a small amount of phosphoric acid. Although ramen noodles are yellowish in colour, they are not egg noodles. We recommend using fresh ramen noodles, but if this is not possible, dried noodles are also fine. Whichever type of noodles you use, remember that they cook very quickly and never add salt to the cooking water.

Step 3: Condiments

Below you will find a list of condiments to garnish your ramen. You can use all or some of them; it's up to you to choose what you want to use:

o pork belly 

o eggs marinated in soy sauce-based sauce

o soya bean sprouts

o white spring onions, julienned

o sweetcorn kernels

o chopped spring onion

o salary desired

To make your bowl of ramen even richer and tastier, you can also add these ingredients:

o wakame seaweed

o blanched vegetables (spinach)

o bamboo shoots

o slices of narutomaki or surimi

o any other food you may like (tofu, mushrooms, etc.)

Now that we have explained each individual component of ramen, it is time to move on to the ingredients and then the preparation.

What do you need to make ramen?

Ingredients for ramen soup:

o 2 cloves of garlic (1 ½ teaspoons of minced garlic)

o 1 knob of ginger (½ teaspoon of grated ginger)

o 1 shallot

o 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds

o 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds

o 100 g minced pork

o 1 teaspoon of chilli bean sauce 

o 3 tablespoons of miso

o 1 tablespoon of sugar

o 1 tablespoon of sake

o 4 cups chicken stock (each bowl of ramen requires approximately 355–400 ml of stock)

o  teaspoon sea salt

o ¼ teaspoon white pepper powder

For seasonings:

o 2 portions of fresh ramen noodles

o pork belly

o spicy bean sprouts or blanched bean sprouts

o  egg

o  sweet corn

o seaweed

o chopped green onion or shallot

o spring onion

Optional:

o la-yu (Japanese chilli oil)

o pickled red ginger (beni-shoga or kizami)

o white pepper powder

Step-by-step preparation

1. Chop the garlic, ginger and shallot.

2. Coarsely grind the sesame seeds, leaving some seeds whole.

3. In a medium saucepan, heat the sesame oil over medium-low heat and add the chopped garlic, ginger and shallots. Sauté until the garlic and shallots are golden brown.

4. Add the meat and cook over medium heat until it is no longer red.

5. Add the bean paste. For a stronger flavour, you can use spicy bean paste and miso. Mix well with the meat, then add the ground sesame seeds and sugar.

6. Add the sake and chicken stock and bring to the boil.

7. Check if it needs salt, add white pepper, cover the soup with a lid and leave to simmer while the noodles cook.

8. Bring unsalted water to the boil, add the noodles and cook according to the instructions on the packet.

9. When the tagliatelle is ready, serve it in bowls, add the soup and garnish with your favourite condiments.

Here is your delicious ramen soup. Now all you have to do is taste it.

Ittadakimasu!