Damp, cool January days are the perfect time to prepare, ladle and slurp, warming, full of flavour, spirit-lifting Asian-style noodle soups, such as ramen.
Ramen are Japanese-style noodles and also the name of brothy soups rich with them.
There are different types of ramen soups. These are often classed by the type of broth used, such as pork bone broth, or by one of the broths key ingredients, such as soy sauce or miso, what I used.
To make my meat-free miso ramen, I started by simmering vegetable broth with shiitake mushrooms, dried kombu, ginger, garlic and chili sauce, infusing it with their umami rich flavours. The broth was then strained into another pot. The caps from the mushrooms simmered in the broth were sliced and added to the strained broth.
I also made a sesame seed paste for the ramen, by crushing and mixing sesame seeds with a bit of soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil.
If you’ve not used dried kombu before, it is dried kelp sold in Japanese/Asian food stores and some supermarkets, where you’ll also find the ramen noodles and miso for this recipe. Kombu adds a deep, savoury taste to ramen and other Japanese-style dishes. For this recipe, you’ll only need a modest amount. When the rest is placed in an airtight container and stored in a cool dry place, it will keep a long time — many sources say up to a year or longer.
The strained broth was brought to a simmer and then some shiro miso was mixed into it, along with some cut pieces of baby bok choy. Shiro miso, also called white miso, is a mild tasting, savoury paste made from cooked and mashed soybeans fermented with salt and koji, a yeast-like mould.
To finish making my miso ramen, fresh ramen noodles were boiled in water until just tender, drained and then divided between two large soup bowls, each of which had some of the sesame seed paste I made in them. The broth was then poured over the noodles and the bok choy and sliced mushrooms in it were arranged on top of them. So were garnishes, including sliced green onions, beans sprouts and softly cooked, halved, boiled eggs.
The end result is a very palate pleasing, hearty bowl of noodle soup. If desired, you could certainly adapt the miso ramen more to your liking. For example, if you don’t want to use eggs, you could heat cubes of tofu in the soup, instead. Instead of bean sprouts, try topping the soup with micro greens. Or, perhaps, add other cooked vegetables to the ramen, such as shelled edamame, corn kernels, sliced carrots and/or cabbage.
Miso Ramen with Vegetables and Mushrooms
Vegetable broth infused with the taste of mushrooms, ginger, garlic and kombu (dried kelp), strained, flavoured with miso, ladled over noodles and topped with garnishes, creating a filling, umami rich bowl of soup.
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: about 35 minutes
Makes: two servings
3 3/4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 (3-inch square piece) dried kombu (see Note 1)
5 medium to large shiitake mushrooms
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp sriracha or other Asian-style hot chili sauce, or to taste
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp shiro (white) miso
3 baby bok choy, each quartered lengthwise
200 to 300 grams fresh ramen noodles (see Note 1)
2 medium/soft boiled, eggs, peeled and halved (optional; see Note 2)
2 green onions, sliced
• fresh bean sprouts, to taste
Place broth, kombu, mushrooms, garlic, ginger and sriracha in a pot, set over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Lower heat as needed to maintain gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Remove pot from the heat and let ingredients continue to steep in the broth 20 minutes.
When those 20 minutes are up, lift the mushrooms out of the broth, let drain, and then set on a cutting board. Strain the broth mixture through a sieve into a second pot. When cool enough to handle, pull off and discard the tough stem on each mushroom. Thinly slice the caps and add them to the strained broth (see Eric’s options).
Place the sesame seeds in a mortar and use the pestle to coarsely crush them. (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, place sesame seeds in a small food processor and pulse until coarsely crushed.) Mix in the sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Transfer this sesame seed paste to a small bowl and set aside until needed.
Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. While it’s coming to a boil, set the pot of strained broth over medium-low heat to warm again. Mix in the miso and baby bok choy. When boiling, add the noodles to the water and cook until just tender, about 90 seconds, and then drain well.
To serve, divide the sesame seed paste between two large Asian-style soup bowls. Set an equal amount of noodles in each bowl. Pour the broth over the noodles and make sure each bowl gets a roughly equal amount of the sliced mushrooms and baby bok choy. Top and garnish each bowl with two halved boiled eggs, green onion and bean sprouts, and then serve.
Note 1: Packages of kombu, miso and fresh ramen noodles are sold at Japanese/Asian food stores and at some supermarkets. I bought them in Greater Victoria at Fairway Market’s Shelbourne Street location. The kombu was in the Asian foods aisle, the noodles and miso (I used Amano Foods brand) in the produce department. If tightly bundled together, loosen the noodles before cooking them. The package sizes for noodles vary. If you have more than you need for the recipe, package and freeze the rest until you need some again.
Note 2: To boil eggs medium/soft, where the yolks are still a little runny, put two large eggs in a small pot and cover with cold water. Set over medium-high heat and bring eggs to a gentle boil. Gently boil eggs four minutes. Immediately remove eggs from the heat and drain the hot water. Fill the pot with ice-cold water. Let the eggs sit in the water three minutes, to stop the cooking. Remove eggs from the water, carefully peel and they are ready to use in the recipe.
Eric’s options: Two, 100-gram or similar sized packages of dried ramen noodles, sold at many supermarkets and Japanese/Asian food stores, could replace the fresh noodles called for in the recipe. Discard the flavour packet that comes with the noodles (if it contains one), or save for another use, and boil the noodles until just tender, about two to three minutes. You can make the strained broth mixture needed for the soup hours in advance. Once cooled to room temperature, cover and refrigerate the broth until ready to reheat and make the miso ramen.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
