miso ramen

When I went to Japan, my Japanese friend asked me what I wanted to eat. She recommended Sushi but I said I wanted ramen (Japanese noodle soup dish). She was surprised that I “only” wanted ramen. My reason was that, I can eat high grade sushi in California but I have never found an authentic Japanese ramen restaurant in the USA that makes their ramen like they do in Japan (cooking the stock for hours).

My favorite ramen flavor is Tonkotsu (pork bone broth) but ramen comes in many varieties depending on where you are eating it in Japan.

When I crave for ramen, I go to our local Mitsuwa Marketplace or Marukai and I buy fresh ingredients and make it at home. Today I made ramen using pork tenderloin meat from my freezer. Ramen is usually eaten with thin slices of pork roast with a little fat for richer flavor but my pork tenderloin version garnered thumbs-up from my family.

Cravin’ for ramen? It’s really easy to make.

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more about “The Art of Miso Ramen“, posted with vodpod

I wish I can make this everyday but I feel like it’s too much work even if it’s really simple. Making a warm bowl of miso ramen is a lot of work for me just like many of my other favorite japanese food. Because of it’s precision process, sometimes having a bowl of this from a small authentic jap restaurant is better than making your own. Here, I will share how I made this beautiful work of art so you can try your own version too.

INGREDIENTS:

Fresh ramen noodles
Some pork belly
4-5 cups water
2-4 tablespoons miso paste (depending on taste and kind you like, I use white miso)
2-4 teaspoons chili oil
1/2 teaspoon hondashi
hard boiledeggs and sweet corn kernels
Narutomaki(fish cake with pink swirl)
1 stalk green onion (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds (pounded until fine)
Light soy sauce to taste (optional)
Seasoned laver/seaweed (cut into strips)

METHOD:

Bring water to boil with the cleaned whole piece of pork. Let it simmer for a while then remove the pork and skim remaining stock. Add in the miso paste, hondashi, eggs and sesame seeds. Bring the soup base to boil. Add in the chili oil and light soy sauce to taste (optional). Blanch the fresh noodles in a pot of boiling water until they are cooked. Rinse with cold water, drain and set aside. I rub the noodles with a little bit if vegetable oil to keep it moist. In a serving bowl, add the noodles then top with the hard-boiled egg, sliced pork, narutomaki, corn kernels and chopped green onions. Pour the miso soup base into the bowl and add the roasted seaweed to top then serve immediately. Look at my photo gallery to be inspired and get hungry!

Note: I added preserved bamboo shoots to my soup because my favorite bowl of ramen from a japanese ramen restaurant serves theirs with some.