Hannah Ikkai Graham (18), student of International Land and Water Management Hannah Ikkai Graham takes us to Japan to share her recipe for ramen miso soup.
Ramen is an easy-to-prepare Japanese noodle dish that’s the perfect comfort food for any season. Though ramen noodles are originally from China, it was in Japan that they developed into today’s cultural gem. Unlike other Japanese dishes, ramen doesn’t have many rules, so there’s lots of possibility for variety and doing your own thing. My personal favourite for ramen is with a miso soup base! You can really be as creative as you want with ramen toppings. In Japan they like to flaunt their creativity by showing a variety of colours in the bowl, usually done best by adding assorted pickled vegetables.
Fun fact: in Asian cultures we have a superstition that if you bite your noodles short while eating them, you’re cutting your life short.
Basic ingredients
- Ramen noodles — 1 pack per person
- Vegetable stock — 1 cube, 700ml of water
- Soy sauce — 1 spoonful
- Miso paste (preferably red miso) — 2 heaped tablespoons
- Salt to taste
Possible toppings
- Pak choi
- Bean sprouts
- Soft-boiled eggs
- Kimchi
- Seaweed (nori)
- Sesame seeds
- Shichimi spice (Japanese 7-spice mix)
- Takuan (Japanese pickled white radish)
- Shallots
- Sweetcorn
Preparation
- Boil the ramen in water for about 2 minutes — the time depends on if you have fresh or dry noodles and how soft you want them. I prefer them al dente.
- Drain the noodles and set aside.
- Make the broth: mix some of the water that the noodles were boiled in with the stock cube and the soy sauce. Then add the miso paste and salt and let it all fully dissolve.
- Cook the pak choi and bean sprouts in the broth until soft.
- In a bowl, serve a portion of noodles with a generous helping of broth and vegetables.
- Add whatever topping you like!
