Increasingly I like to know, try and prepare Asian recipes, and lately especially Japanese. I love the way they highlight the flavor of each ingredient and season it, and the best of all is that they are recipes that use the most natural and healthy ingredients as it happens in this dish.
This recipe for homemade ramen or Japanese soup is one of my favorite spoon dishes. It is comforting and delicious and combines a series of ingredients that make ramen a complete dish, very adaptable to our tastes and from which I recommend that you prepare a large amount because it is worth it.
My intention is that everyone can prepare homemade ramen without complications. There is a whole world around ramen, lots of ways to prepare it and different ingredients, that’s why I have made my own version with ingredients that are mostly very easy to find and especially with an incredible homemade flavor. If any ingredient is not within your reach, you can ask me in the comments for a possible substitution, but you can also encourage yourself to do like me and order them online as there are more and more online Asian food stores.
If you are interested in Japanese food you will surely love this post on how to prepare sushi at home step by step with tricks for perfect rice, it is a recipe that I make at home quite a lot because we love sushi and eat it in large quantities and make it at home It is inexpensive, fun and great. You may also like salmon sashimi with wasabi, ginger and soy sauce, and of course the famous teriyaki chicken with basmati rice the gyozas or Japanese dumplings, a delicious dumpling.
Ingredients for the recipe for homemade ramen or Japanese soup (6 people):
- To prepare the broth:
- The carcass of a chicken or chicken bones. I like that they are free-range chicken but this is already in tastes.
- 1 small onion or chive.
- The green part of 2 chives or leeks.
- 2 carrots
- 3 garlic cloves.
- A few slices of fresh ginger (no need to peel it).
- 3-4 shiitake mushrooms. If you do not have you can use any other type of mushroom, the more aromatic the better.
- 300 gr of pork belly cut into a single piece. Try to buy a piece that has a lot of meat and less fat. Also, get twine to tie the bacon.
- 6 eggs M and a little salt and vinegar to cook them.
- 480 gr of ramen noodles (I usually serve 80 gr per person). These noodles can be bought in Asian food stores (they are wavy) but if you want a very easy option to find you can use the oriental noodles that are sold in supermarkets in bags. You will also need a little salt to cook them.
- Some soup vegetables like pak choi cabbage or spinach leaves. I have used both.
- A little of the green part of a chive.
- Ice cubes to cut the cooking of eggs and vegetables.
- For the marinade (if you can’t find mirin or sake, substitute more soy sauce and a tablespoon of brown sugar):
- 1 clove garlic.
- 1 slice of ginger.
- 80 ml of soy sauce.
- 20 ml of sake, an alcoholic drink is known as rice wine (optional, gives it an even more authentic flavor).
- 30 ml of mirin. It is a condiment similar to sake but with much less alcohol and sweet.
Preparation, how to make homemade ramen or Japanese soup:
- The first step is to clean the housings. To do this, pour plenty of water in a pot (I’m going to use a pressure cooker for everything but you can also use a normal pot) over high heat and, when it boils, add the chicken carcasses, lower the heat a little and let them boil. 5 minutes. THIS IS HOW THE SHELLS LOOK ONCE BOILED
- Remove the shells from the pot, wash them under running cold water and leave them in a drainer.
- Take the water out of the pot and fry it.
- To accompany the ramen we will serve chashu or Japanese marinated pork, that is, we will cook the bacon and give it an Asian touch.
- Tie the bacon as you can see in the photograph so that the skin is on the outside and practically join one end and the other. You can tie it with twine thread, which is the one usually used in cooking.
- Put the pot back on the fire, at medium temperature, and when it is hot put the tied bacon in the center . Go cooking it so that it is browning everywhere, it will take about 10 minutes to get it. I recommend you help yourself with some kitchen tongs to go around it.
- While preparing the vegetables for the broth. Wash the chives, remove the part of the roots and reserve, on the one hand, the white part and on the other hand the green part, even if possible include another green part.
- Peel the carrots and cut off the top.
- Wash the shiitake mushrooms or the ones you are going to use so that they do not have soil.
- Peel the garlic cloves and cut the ginger into slices.
- When the bacon is golden add the rest of the ingredients and give them a few turns so that they take on a slight golden speck and release aroma for just 2 minutes. THE INGREDIENTS OF THE BROTH ARE ADDED TO THE POT
- Incorporate the casings and pour water until covered, taking care that in the pressure cooker you do not exceed the 2/3 mark of its capacity. In my case I have used about 2.5 liters. WE PUT ALL THE INGREDIENTS FOR THE BROTH IN THE POT
- If you use a pressure cooker like ours, put it on medium-low heat, close it and, when the 2 red rings appear, lower the heat a little (but enough to keep the two rings visible all the time) and let it cook. just 15 minutes, then just take the pot off the heat and wait for the pressure to drop and you don’t see a ring to open it.
- If you use a normal pot you will need to cook them for about 1 hour, until you see that they are tender and creamy. Turn up the heat to bring the water to a boil, and when that happens, lower it a little, just enough to continue cooking while it gurgles a little, and stir occasionally. READY THE CHICKEN BROTH FOR THE RAMEN
- When it is ready, reserve the bacon and the mushrooms since we will use them for the ramen, we will not use the rest of the solids so I recommend straining the broth. If you want you can save the chives and carrots to use them in some soup or crush them for cream.
- While you can go preparing the eggs. Put a saucepan with enough water so that later it covers the eggs and at high temperature, along with a little salt and vinegar. When it is boiling, carefully pour the eggs so that they do not break and count exactly 6 minutes.
- When the time is up, prepare a bowl with cold water and ice cubes, and take out the eggs and put them in it. The objective is to cut the cooking and thus achieve that the white is completely curdled but that the yolk is still a little liquid or with a buttery texture.
- Once the broth is ready you can remove the fat that floats on top, this is already in tastes.
- In a saucepan, put the ingredients of the marinade: the soy sauce, the mirin and the sake along with the peeled garlic clove and the ginger slice. WE PREPARE THE MARINADE
- Set the heat to medium heat and as soon as it starts to bubble, turn it off and remove the saucepan.
- Put the eggs and the bacon in the saucepan (you can also transfer the marinade to another container if it is more comfortable so that everything fits) and go around the ingredients every 10-15 minutes so that they are marinated everywhere. Let them rest for as long as you want, at least an hour but they can be in the fridge from the previous day. The ideal would be to submerge them completely but it seems to be an unnecessary expense of marinade. LEAVE THE EGGS AND THE BACON IN THE MARINADE
- Everything we have prepared so far can be prepared in advance of a few hours or even days. Eggs only 1 day in advance but bacon and broth last 2-3 days in the fridge and can also be frozen once made. Now we go with what to prepare just before serving.
- Follow the instructions on the ramen noodle package to prepare them. In my case, I recommended a fixed amount of water that I have put in a pot over high heat with a little salt and when it has started to boil I have added the noodles. They will need 3-4 minutes, during which it is recommended, as they soften a little, to help them separate from each other with some chopsticks. When they are ready, remove them from the pot and leave them on a plate. COOKED RAMEN NOODLES
- In the pot in which you have prepared the noodles, pour plenty of water again and, when it is boiling, cook the vegetables you are going to use in it. In my case it has been pak choi, I have cut the outermost leaves and the interior I have cut in half, all clean under a stream of cold water and when the water has come to a boil I have put it in the pot and from here you only need 3 minutes.
- When the cabbage took 1 minute I added some fresh spinach leaves because they only need 2 minutes.
- After 3 minutes they are all ready, at that time take them out and put them in a bowl with cold water and ice cubes to cut the cooking and keep that nice green color and a good texture. WE CUT THE COOKING OF THE VEGETABLES WITH ICE WATER
- Remove the strings from the pork belly and cut it into thin slices. WE ALREADY HAVE THE CHASHU OR MARINATED BACON READY
- Also, cut the sliced mushrooms and the green part of the sliced chives as well.
- Heat the broth until it boils so that it reaches the table with a good temperature.
- Add 4-5 tablespoons of the marinade that we have used for the bacon and eggs every time you go to serve.
- Top with noodles and spread the vegetables (pak choi, spinach), mushrooms, a little of the green onion and a couple of slices of the marinated bacon or chashu.
- Crack the eggs, peel them and open them in half, being careful not to let the yolk come out, and put each one in a bowl.
- Finally, pour the broth in the bowls, the amount you prefer. I like that it is soupy and I usually cover almost to the top. If you try it and it is lacking in salt (you will see that we have not added it at any time), add more marinade or directly soy sauce.
Time: about 2 hours, depending on the type of pot and some rest
Difficulty: easy
Serve and taste:
Ideally, the ramen reaches the table with the hot broth so that all the ingredients are heated, both those that were previously made and the last. You can make the broth and bacon in advance and even freeze them, and the rest of the ingredients (eggs, vegetables, noodles) are usually prepared just before serving (the eggs first so that they are dyed a little with the marinade).
For cutlery, I recommend serving a spoon and also some chopsticks to pick up the solid ingredients. You will wonder how to eat everything that is not cut … well, the recommendation is to eat the eggs with the spoon and the vegetables (for example the pak choi) and the bacon, just take it, give them a bite and leave the rest in the plate. Enjoy this comforting Japanese soup that is authentic … scandal!
Variants of the recipe for homemade ramen or Japanese soup:
There are so many variations of ramen that it is difficult to concentrate them all. However, thinking that my intention with this recipe is to approach homemade ramen with ingredients that we can easily obtain, I am inclined to suggest for example changing the chashu or marinated bacon for simply minced pork or even using another piece of pork, for example, shoulder, to cook it with the broth and then simply serve it frayed. It can also be prepared instead of meat with a seafood, for example, mussels, clams, prawns, prawns …
As for the vegetables, experiment and add the ones you like the most, such as bamboo shoots, other types of mushrooms, cabbage that you like the most, sauteed chives and even sweet corn. And for those who are looking for a very Japanese touch, I suggest adding a little nori seaweed, dried bonito powder or the famous kamaboko that is that white fish meat pie with a pink spiral in the center that is usually used. serve in slices.
Tips:
Most ingredients can already be found easily in supermarkets, such as soy sauce, fresh ginger, and even Chinese cabbage pak choi, but others like sake, ramen noodles, mirin, or sake are sold only at Asian ingredient establishments. The good thing is that it is getting easier to buy these ingredients online in online stores.
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