Ramen

“Ramen” a recipe I have been wanting to share for a long time!

Ramen there is something so comforting about this dish, the hot broth, the slippery egg noodles, the garnishes and the spicy taste! It’s a perfect melange all these magical yet simple ingredients.

In December we did a holiday to Hokkaido for skiing. I love cold weather, the snow is my favourite part you will never hear me complain (which is very rare :D) in freezing cold weather. Everytime I visit Hokkaido, we go to our favourite skiing destination, Kiroro Resorts. I love the powdery soft snow, the slopes but the biggest thing I look forward to is eating Ramen after a good day of skiing and freezing on the mountains. There is an instant comfort in those bowl of Ramen, I forget how many pains, aches I have, how many times I fell on the mountains and how cold it was. All I feel how delicious this Ramen is and how do they do it, exact same taste every single time!

I was fortunate to work with Japanese chefs and if one thing I learnt from them is the precision. No matter how many times you make a dish, you still weigh every single ingredient. And I reckon that is the success of consistent taste of all their cuisine.

Coming back to this Ramen, this is inspired by the Ramen I had in Hokkaido, albeit it’s very different. I wanted to create a recipe for everyone who might not have access to Japanese ingredients. So I made it with easily available ingredients.

A few days ago I posted a picture of Ramen on my Instagram with soft boiled egg topping and I got a massive response for the recipe. Eggs as it is an optional topping, you can add eggs, bok choi, spring onions or whatever you fancy.

Do give this recipe a try!

Ingredients for broth:

• 1 onion with skin washed
• 4 cloves of garlic with skin
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms or 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms
• A few vegetable bits such as capsicum/bell pepper seeds and top
• 2 tbsp or to taste Japanese Togarashi Chilli paste or Toban Djan Sichuan chilli paste
• 1 spicy red chilli (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 2 litres of water

Ingredients for Ramen, sauce and toppings:

• 200g cooked ramen noodles
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tsp Togarashi chilli paste or your choice of chilli
• 1 tsp or to taste Rayu, spicy sesame oil
• 2 tbsp finely chopped spring Onions
• 1 tbsp finely chopped peanuts
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

To make a broth add all the ingredients and boil it for at least 30-45 minutes till it becomes half. Strain the broth and keep it boiling.

In a bowl, add tahini, peanut butter and togarashi paste. Whisk it well and add some water to emulsify. Add the hot spicy broth and mix it well.

To assemble:

Add the spicy tahini broth mixture in bowl. Add hot boiled noodles, garnish it with your favourite toppings such as eggs, pickled vegetables, bok choi or spring onions. Add some crushed peanuts and sesame seeds. Sprinkle the rayu and serve hot.