This year I had a Japanese-themed birthday party as an excuse to cook and eat some of my favourite things – in party size! Once you make the veg dashi, the stock is surprisingly simple, with the soy milk helping to create a creamy mouthfeel, without it being sickly rich. There are lots of ingredients, but you don't need to simmer it for hours and hours like a tonkotsu base.
Then there's the toppings – the smokey soy buttered grilled king browns are my substitute for pork and for every day, I'd just use marinated hen eggs – but what's cuter than tiny quail eggs for party serves? Kanpai, kuwaii!
Ingredients
Serves 1 standard bowl, scale up for more
Vegetarian Dashi
–
3/4 cup water kombu, 2.5cm x 5cm 3 dried shiitake mushrooms
Soup Base
–
For Soup 1 tbs white & black sesame seeds, toasted and ground 1 clove garlic, minced ginger, thumb sized, minced 1 spring onion, just the white part, sliced 2 tsp sesame oil 2 tsp chilli bean sauce 2 tsp red miso 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 2 tsp soy sauce 1 cup Bonsoy ½ cup dashi
Ramen Toppings
–
king brown mushrooms, sliced and grilled (basted with a mix of butter, tamari, mirin and water)
corn cob, boiled and grilled (grill by waving the corn directly over a gas flame)
ajitsuke tamago (ramen egg, soft boiled and marinated in tamari, mirin and water)
spring onion, just the green part, sliced
seasoned nori sheet
Dashi
Soak the kombu and dried shiitake mushrooms in ¾ cup water for 30 minutes in a small saucepan.
Over a low heat, slowly bring the liquid to boil. Before it comes to a full boil, remove the kombu and shiitake mushrooms to avoid the dashi becoming slimey.
Soup Base
Add sesame oil into a small saucepan on medium heat and fry the garlic, ginger, and white part of the spring onion until fragrant.
Add the spicy bean sauce and miso in the saucepan, stirring constantly so they don’t burn. Deglaze with rice wine vinegar then add the sesame seeds and soy sauce.
Splash in some of the soy milk and quickly stir to create a loose paste (this avoids lumps) then add the rest followed by the dashi. Keep on a simmer while you prepare the toppings.
Ramen Toppings & Noodles
Prepare the toppings and keep them aside for assembly.
Cook the ramen noodles in boiling water. Drain and rinse well under a running tap to stop cooking. Place into serving bowl.
To Serve
Pour the hot ramen soup over the noodles and arrange your toppings.
This recipe was based on Just One Cookbook with my edits.