The ultimate hangover food. Sunday morning started with 2 eggs, fried to perfection, mopped up with challah. A bacon and lemon cheddar scone snack at Kiwiana w. Sam & Ellie. And homemade ramen for dinner. Now since I was a bit non-functional and indecisive, I kind of winged it on the recipe and prayed for the best. To my surprise, it worked out- deliciously. I was inspired by a pork miso soup recipe in Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking- a cookbook I bought after I came back from Japan- convinced I would make Japanese food all the time (didn’t happen). The original recipe includes potato and tofu- but no noodles or other toppings. I also scoured various internet recipes, including one from a blog called Tess’ Japanese Kitchen- I mean, how could I not listen to that? As I am a ramen novice, if anyone has any additions or tips- let me know.
I ended up making a ton of broth- 6 servings maybe.
1 pound of pork (i used pork loin- and cooked it whole, but it but would ideally recommend pork belly. the loin ended up really drying out, excepts near the great fatty cap. if not, then I think pork butt/shoulder- which you should cut up into chunks before cooking- and allow to cook for longer- about 2-3 hours. Pork bones etc could also enrich the stock. Next time, I might also follow my original thought- and use pork ribs- which I think should only take an hour to cook the meat- and you get the added flavor from the bones. Thoughts anyone?)
water
7 tablespoons awase miso (awase is a mixed miso. I couldn’t find- so made mixing half red miso, half white miso)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 package dried ramen noodles (i found these at the corner store. they were packed like spaghetti– not like those 75 cent ramen packs- they used to give out on septa)
3 green onions/ scallions
sriracha or that red chili powder
Toppings of your choice.
spinach (1 package of baby spinach)
seaweed (6 sheets of dried nori)
hard-boiled eggs (I did 6. One per serving)
bean sprouts (1/2 package, raw)
Put pork belly/butt/loin in a large pot. Fill up with water, about an inch or so over the pork- I used maybe 8 or so cups of water. Add soy sauce and mirin. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour (or longer if using butt/shoulder.) Take off heat. Skim fat off top. Let pork stand in cooking broth for 15 minutes. Remove pork from pot and thinly slice. With heat still off, whisk in miso. Add more miso to taste– mine didn’t need additional- but if used much more water, you might.
Meanwhile, prep your toppings. To hard boil eggs, put in a small saucepan. Add water, covering an inch or two above the eggs. Bring to a boil. Lower, still boiling cook for 9 minutes. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon. Put in a bowl w. cold water. When cool, peel. You can store unpeeled hard-boiled eggs in fridge, adding as you go. Or just keep peeled, whole eggs in soup.
In a separate pot, boil water. Blanch the spinach (put in boiling water) for 2 minutes until wilted and bright green, then remove to colander. Next- in same water, rip up sheets nori, and blanch until wilts- about 30 seconds, and removed to colander. In same water, boil ramen noodles for 2 minutes (or according to package directions). Remove to colander.
Place noodles in your bowl. Ladle broth over. Arrange toppings. Add fresh scallions and sprouts. Enjoy.
I think it’s best to store your ramen noodles separately from the broth. Also, as with all broths, best to store without any of the toppings, the first night. So the next day, you can easily skim the fat off the top. Though i kept the meat in the broth, in efforts to rehydrate a bit.