Miso Ramen With Korean Soybean Paste

I've been trying to figure out what to do with that tub of soybean paste I bought some time ago when I attempted to recreate Taiwanese oyster mee sua. It was nasty, did I tell you? I am tempted to throw out that bottle of black vinegar I bought as I don't foresee myself using it again in the future. At all!

My tub of soybean paste.

I love tonkotsu ramen, but to cook its broth would require all the time in the world, and I don't think I want to do it. Hmmm, unless I cook it over a campfire, just to save the gas and electricity bills!

24 hours to boil and simmer the broth sounds like a real effort.

Just One Cookbook's recipe is a good one for a cheat's version of the miso ramen. It takes about an hour to prepare and cook it.

The alterations I made to the recipe were:

* Chinese cooking wine instead of sake. 

* I minced some pork from pork belly instead of minced pork.

* Korean soybean paste instead of Japanese miso paste.
* Chilli oil paste instead of chilli bean oil, not sure if it's the same thing.

In all honesty, I don't even know how miso ramen is supposed to taste like!

Nevertheless, I must confess that the dish I cooked was decently yummy. So yummy that one serving wasn't enough.

BUT don't be fooled, one serving is enough to fill you up nicely. :)

Ingredients:

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 TBSP of ginger, minced

1 shallot, minced

 4 cups of water

1 TBSP sesame oil

1/4 lb minced pork (about 100gm)

1 tsp chilli oil

3 TBSP of soybean paste

1 TBSP of Chinese cooking wine

1 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP of sesame seeds, grounded with mortar and pestle.

1 tsp of salt

1/4 tsp of white pepper

2 servings of ramen noodles

water to boil the noodles

Toppings:

hard boiled eggs

strips of nori (seaweed)

spring onion

cha shu or pork loin

mayu (black garlic oil)

Almost got my runny hard boiled egg right!

Directions:

1. Boil 2 pots of water, one for the noodles and the other (4 cups) for the broth. Set aside.

2. Loosen up ramen noodles as per instructions and set aside until it's time to cook them.

3. In a medium pot, heat up the sesame oil on medium heat to saute the garlic, ginger and shallot. Once soft, add the meat.

4. Increase heat to medium high and cook until meat changes colour.

5. Add chilli oil and mix well.

6. Pour in the water (4 cups) and add the seasonings. I let it simmer while I start to cook the noodles in the other pot as per the packet instructions.

7. Once the noodles are ready and divided into the bowls, I bring the broth to a boil and take it off the heat.

8. Pour into the bowls.

9. Garnish with your preferred toppings and serve.

This recipe serves two.

Notes:

1. For the hard boiled eggs with runny yolk, boil water in a pot. Once it is boiling, put the eggs in and set your timer for 7 minutes. When time is up, scoop them out and cool them in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Gently peel them under a tap of running water and set aside. Only cut them in half before serving. Here's another recipe.

2. Mayu, or black garlic oil gives a tiny kick of bitterness to the broth. Use 5 cloves of garlic, minced, and fry with 1/4 cup of sesame oil on low heat. Stir occasionally. In about 10 minutes, garlic will turn black. Pour mixture into a heatproof bowl and cool for 30 minutes. Blitz. Pour 1 tsp of mayu into your bowl of  ramen. Keep the rest in a bottle until the next time. BUT, mine didn't turn out as smooth as this recipe's. Mine was still grainy. :P

3. Chopping the nori sheets into fine shreds was freaking tiring! Cut them into large squares and serve, or buy a packet of seaweed strips instead.

4. The next time, I may blitz the mixture in step 5 before adding water. The soybeans and meat needed to be a bit more fine, in my humble opinon.

5. I may also use chicken or beef as an alternative to minced pork the next time.

Have fun trying this out!

p.s. I tried it with our Malaysian taucu, and although it wasn't as strong as the Korean's soybean paste, it was equally delicious!