Homemade Ramen

When you want to cook to impress, few dinners can top homemade ramen. That being said, I'm not going to lie: making ramen from scratch requires time, patience, and a fair amount of effort. It can be a multi-day affair, and if you simply don’t have time for it, it can seem very intimidating. This shoyu ramen recipe calls for making four important components: dashi and tare for the soup base, and nitamago (marinated eggs) and chashu (pork belly) as showstopping toppings. You can certainly eat a decent bowl of noodles without one or two of these players, but man oh man, magic happens when they all come together in one bite. Trust me—your patience will be thoroughly rewarded after one spoonful of this homemade ramen. Here’s everything you need to know:

What People Are Saying:
"This recipe is a masterpiece. It's extremely easy in the sense that no part of it requires any special skill. It takes some time to make and compile the various components, sure, but I did it all while do other things around the house today. I highly recommend making this!" - timshead

How To Make Homemade Ramen

INGREDIENTS

• Chicken Dashi: This is simple, clear stock usually made with kombu (kelp), katsuobushi (dried fish shavings, aka bonito flakes). Making this takes just minutes because we don’t want to over-extract the intense flavors of these umami-rich ingredients, but if you need an even quicker version, many stores today carry an instant powder variety called Hon Dashi: Just add it to hot broth or water, and you’re good to go.
• Tare: Called the soul of ramen by some, tare is essentially a flavored, concentrated soy sauce. We will be making this once and using it three different ways: as braising liquid for the pork belly, as marinade for the eggs, and as seasoning for the soup.
• Chashu: This is braised pork belly, aka a little slice of heaven for my non-kosher friends. Seared then cooked gently and slowly in our tare mix, it might quite possibly be the most melt-in-your-mouth pork experience you’ll ever have. Pork belly with skin on is the best cut to use, but if you can’t find that at your local butcher, pork shoulder will do just fine.
• Nitamago: There is nothing more awe-inspiring than an egg done well. In this case, the eggs are soft-boiled, peeled, and left to chill in our tare marinade overnight, for 6 to 12 hours.
• La-yu: This ingredient is a bonus for my garlic-loving spice heads and it’s totally optional. Inspired by my favorite ramen condiment, found at Chuko in Brooklyn, this is a take on Japanese chili oil with savory pieces of garlic confit gummies and tiny pops of sesame. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better!
• Ramen Noodles: Use your favorite fresh ramen noodles here.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

To make the dashi, bring chicken broth up to a simmer in a pot, then once up to a simmer remove from heat, let cool for 2 minutes, then add the mushrooms and kombu. Once they are in for about 5 minutes, add in the bonito flakes, and steep for around 5 minutes. We want to stagger the ingredients so that all of the very pungent, aromantic ingredients don’t add an overwhelming flavor to the broth. Strain everything out, then reserve all of the solids to use in the ramen later.

Blanch the pork belly by adding to a pot, covering with water, then bringing to a simmer, and draining the water immediately. We don’t want to cook the meat, we just want to remove some of the not-as-fresh parts. Take the meat off the heat, drain it, and give it a quick rinse once done.

To make the tare and chashu, add low-sodium soy sauce to a pot with the rest of your tare ingredients, and bring to a simmer. Once it is simmering, turn the heat to low, and add the pork. Cover, and let it cook on a low simmer until the pork is completely tender. You want to cook as slowly and gently as possible so that the meat stays tender and melt-in-your-mouth good. Check back occasionally, and give the pork a little turn as needed. To check if it is perfectly tender, I like to use a cake tester to check the tenderness. If it slides in very smoothly (think butter), then it is good to go. Remove the pork once it cools down slightly and let cool completely before slicing, and reserve the tare for later.

To make the nitamago, make jammy boiled eggs by boiling for around 6 minutes, then peeling them carefully. Place the peeled eggs in a bowl, and pour over the strained reserved tare over the eggs. Add the kombu as a cover to weigh down the eggs, then let sit in the fridge for 4-12 hours.

Now, we’re going to make the chili oil by adding oil and the mountain of garlic to a pot— bring to a simmer, and keep a close eye on it. Remove from the heat once it has started to reach a golden color, then add the ground chili or chili flakes. Let it rest for around 2 minutes—until the oil is nice and red—then stir in the sesame. Once cooled completely, store refrigerated in an airtight container for around 2 weeks.

After making your noodles and slicing your pork belly, all you have to do is assemble! Add your noodles to the bowl, pour over the dashi, add some spoonfuls of tare, slice and add your eggs and pork belly, and add your toppings! I went with green onions, homemade chili oil, and nori.

Full list of ingredients & instructions can be found in the recipe below.

Storage

This recipe makes enough broth and toppings for 4 servings and keeps well in the fridge for a week, so if you're cooking for one, it's the perfect thing to make on a Sunday and heat up throughout the week.