Comforting, delicious, noodley goodness. This has got to be one of my favourite noodle dishes ever. Ramen was always one of those dishes I wanted to try but felt it would be difficult to do justice to at home. Then along came Yuki’s Kitchen and gave me an education!

A few years ago I decided to treat a good friend of mine (who also loves food and cooking) to a ramen making class for her birthday.

I came across “Yuki’s Kitchen” after a quick Google search and reading a review in the Evening Standard and decided to book us in. We found ourselves heading to Crystal Palace on a Sunday afternoon and taking a comfortable seat in Yuki’s kitchen with a cup of Japanese twig tea and about 6 other ramen fans. It was a wonderful class where Yuki talked us through the entire ramen making process. We learnt all about the different types of miso, and even got to try her home made versions and she demonstrated how to make 3 different types of ramen dish, all of which we all got to try, there was definitely no need for dinner that evening!

The class was really interesting and gave me the confidence to try making ramen at home and it has been a regular ever since. My husband loves it! My favourite recipe of those we tried was the miso ramen with chashu pork. It’s a bit labour intensive with a few speciality ingredients and it is a two day process, but this recipe makes a big batch and you can freeze the leftovers so it’s well worth the effort.

Another big win was learning how to make the nitamago, these are eggs which are marinated in the soy mixture that the pork is cooked in. It really adds a lot to the final dish and making soy eggs is also now a regular thing at home, even if not with ramen, can’t believe I’d never had eggs like this before! 

There are many similar recipes available on the internet to try, yet I stay loyal to the recipe Yuki passed on to me in her class. I just can not see how it can be bettered in terms of flavour. A treasured recipe which I will share here.

Remember, you need to start making this the day before you want to eat it.

Chashu pork

Ingredients

• About 1.5kg rolled pork belly joint, this will likely come in 3 separate pieces. Many joints in the UK are sold with the skin and fat on, probably with a roast dinner in mind. Trim off the skin and fat, this may mean you have to unroll it and then tie it up again.

• 1 litre of water

• 1 green tea or English tea bag

• Kitchen cooking string is also needed to roll and tie the pork

Sauce (also known as tare)

• 400ml soy sauce (light not dark, I use Kikkoman)

• 100ml sake

• 100ml mirin

• 35g (2 tsp) dark brown sugar

• 10cm square piece of dried kobu or 1tbsp dried kombu powder

• 3cm chunk of fresh ginger peeled and chopped in to a couple of big pieces

• 1 whole garlic bulb, peel each clove and slightly squash the garlic (which will help it release flavour)

• 200ml water

Instructions

1. Split the pork in to a couple of pieces if it isn’t already. Once the skin and fat are trimmed if it isn’t already, roll it up and tie it tightly using kitchen string. If you tie it tightly it will stay rolled later once cooked.

2. Heat pan on high heat and sear the pork on all sides, it should have a nice golden colour on the outside.

3. In a large pot, add the litre of water and tea bag and bring to the boil. Add in the pork and simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Remove the pork and give it a rinse under a running tap. Discard the water from the pot and clean it out.

5. Put all the sauce ingredients into the pot and add the pork. Simmer for 1½ hours occasionally rotating the pork then leave it to cool down.

6. Once cooled, place in to a tupperware or container which you can fit in the fridge and leave the pork marinating in the sauce overnight. You may now want to prepare the nitamago (see below).

7. When you want to eat the pork, remove the kitchen string and then thinly slice the pork (as much as you want, I recommend 2-3 slices per person) and place the slices on a baking tray.

8. Warm gently in the oven, just around 100c for a few minutes.

9. This chashu pork recipe makes a lot, probably around 8-10 portions. For any you don’t think you will eat over the next few days, place in a freezer bag and freeze. It’s recommended not to slice the pork into individual slices before freezing as this will make it more likely to dry out or get freezer burn. 

 

Nitamago/soy marinated egg

For me this is one of those toppings that turns a good meal in to a favourite meal. You can make these eggs using the ingredients for the marinade below, or better yet, use the sauce from the chashu pork.  You can boil and peel the eggs whilst the pork is cooling in the sauce and simply ladle some of the sauce out to cover the eggs.

Once boiled, the eggs keep for a couple of days so I’d recommend making a few, enough so you have 1 for every portion of ramen you plan to eat.

Ingredients

• 4 soft boiled eggs (or more if preferred)

Marinade

• 40 ml soy

• 60 ml mirin

• 100ml sake

• ½ tsp sugar

 Instructions

1. If not using the pork tare, then you would mix the above ingredients and bring to a boil then leave to cool.

2. Soft boil the eggs. Eggs can be a real pain to peel sometimes and it can be hard to get the level of yolk setting just right. I like it when the yolk is starting to set but is still a bit runny in the middle. The best way I’ve found is as follows:

   1. Bring a pan of water to the boil

   2. Add the eggs in only when the water is at a rolling boil. I usually use large eggs, if using medium eggs knock a minute off the cooking time

   3. Simmer for exactly 7 minutes

   4. Remove the eggs and plunge in to very cold water

3. Something about this process means the shell doesn’t seem to stick to the egg so much and they are relatively easy to peel. I won’t lie though, this is probably the most fiddly and annoying part of the whole process!

4. Once shelled, marinate the eggs in the pork chashu (or specially made) sauce overnight. I tend to find putting the eggs in a sealed plastic ziplock bag is the best way to ensure the eggs gets well coated and you do not need to use loads of the sauce.

5. Rotate the eggs now and again to ensure all sides get well marinated.

  

Miso ramen

Time to prepare the final dish, and having done all the work the day before, the final assembly is very quick. Get everything ready and to hand as once the noodles are cooking, it’s best to eat as soon as ready.

Ingredients

• 250ml per person of chicken stock. The best quality you can find, or freshly made is even better.

• Add a small sachet of dashi powder to the stock if you have it available.

• 100g ramen noodles per person. I also use regular egg noodles sometimes as these are readily available from the supermarket.

• 1½ tbsp per portion of the tare/ sauce from the chashu pork

• About ½ a tbsp per person of red miso, or white miso if preferred

Toppings

• Sliced chashu pork (2-3 slices per person) – sliced and warming in the oven

• Nitamago/ soy sauce marinated eggs (1 per person)

• Spring onions chopped for garnish – about ½ a spring onion per person

• Nori sheet, use scissors or a knife to quarter the sheet in to manageable pieces

• Drizzle of toasted sesame oil and/or toasted sesame seeds

• Drizzle of chilli oil and/or shichimi (Japanese seven spice powder)

 Instructions

1. Cook the noodles per packet instructions.

2. Meanwhile heat the chicken stock with the chashu pork sauce and the miso, bring to the boil to form your broth.

3. Heat the chashu pork in the oven for a few minutes, a low heat around 100c should be fine, be careful not to leave it so long it dries out though.

4. Once cooked, strain the noodles and place in a nice big, deep bowl then add the broth.

5. Add the chashu pork slices.

6. Slice the egg in half, gently. Hopefully it will be soft boiled and still have a slightly runny centre. If you aren’t confident on this, you could just add the egg to the bowl whole.  

7. Add the nori sheet and other garnishes such as the spring onion, chilli oil, sesame oil and/or shichimi.  Toasted sesame seeds go nicely on this too.

8. Eat ASAP before the noodles get soggy.