One of the most beautiful and rewarding things about cooking, is the vast cultural influence we all receive and pass on to each other. We test out recipes, share ideas, browse and blend.
I love that I grew up in such a diverse-culturally food influenced family…Jewish, Middle Eastern, Hawaiian, Italian….however, Asian was never on the menu. Unless it was Christmas night and your local Chinese takeout was the only spot open.
Joey’s been asking for a “Saimin” type of dish for a while, but to be honest..I had NO idea how to go about with it! All I had that was Eastern influence in the cubbard was a bottle of Kikkoman and maybe a piece of dehydrated ginger root.
The hunt was on.
Yelp is my Go-To for anything new, and long and behold we found Mitsuwa Marketplace!
O-M-G is this place Ah-Mazzing! I honestly felt like I was transported across the globe.
After a quick stop to get the necessary “tools” needed for the dish (new Saimin bowls, of course), we quickly headed to their grocery area as I was Facebooking Nami and making sure I understood the recipe correctly. She is THE Queen-Blogess for for all things Japanese cuisine!
And here is what we came back with…
I LOVE that I can’t read anything on the packages…isn’t that great!
Nami is SO awesome and was so patient as I was Facebook-ing her a million questions, making sure I did her fascinating dish correctly.
Adapted from this with minor changes from things I could/could not find 🙂
Method:
1) Prep all the toppings and have them ready, since the noodles cook pretty quickly. About 2-3 minutes.
2) Begin getting a large pot of water boiling for the ramen noodles, so when you’re ready, cook noodles.
3) In another large pot, saute chopped garlic and ginger in sesame oil and saute for a few minutes. Don’t burn garlic.
The smell is AMAZING!
4) Add sriracha and stir. (Nami used chili bean paste, but I couldn’t find any).
5) Add the rest of the soup Ingredients; chicken and dashi stock, soy sauce, sake, salt and sugar. Stir well and simmer for a few minutes.
6) Next, drain the soup stock through a mesh strainer or cheese-cloth and return soup back to pot and discard ginger/garlic mixture.
7) Keep soup simmering until ready. Begin cooking ramen noodles. I took Nami’s advice and cooked the noodles a minute or so less than needed because the hot stock will cook them more. Of course when I went to read the package directions…this is what I found.
Nothing in English! Which was great…I loved that I was finding my way through this dish. So I guesstimated and it took no more than 3 minutes. When done, drain.
8) Place noodles in bowl first, then add soup stock and garnish with all the toppings.
I was looking at her photos and it seemed that the toppings are “grouped together”. I also noticed the nori is folded and tucked in the side.
Another note: We added shrimp later on I asked Nami about adding fish and she recommended shrimp versus fish, such as tuna (which was my first choice).
This ramen was everything we were looking for. The dashi stock introduced a complexity I never tasted before, a seafood essence that was rich enough to handle all the toppings. The soft boiled egg was creamy and indulgent and the fish cake was not over-powering as I thought it would be. It was spicy, salty and satisfying. I can not wait to make this again! Thank you Namifor introducing me to such an amazing cuisine!
Enjoy!
Spicy Shoyu Ramen – A Satisfying Discovery
Recipe Inspired from JustOneCookbook.com
Ingredients
- 2 Servings of ramen noodles
Soup
- 1 Tb. sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 in ginger peeled and chopped
- 2 tsp Sriracha
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups dashi stock
- 2 ½ Tb. soy sauce
- ½ Tb sake
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. sugar
Toppings
- 1 soft boiled egg
- 1 green onion chopped
- 2 Nori sheets
- A few slices of naruto fish cake
- Shiraga Negi
- 4-5 pieces steamed shrimp
- 1 bok choy
- Bean sprouts lightly steamed
Instructions
- Prep all the toppings and have them ready, since the noodles cook pretty quickly. About 2-3 minutes.
- Begin getting a large pot of water boiling for the ramen noodles, so when you're ready, cook noodles.
- In another large pot, saute chopped garlic and ginger in sesame oil and saute for a few minutes. Don't burn garlic.
- Add sriracha and stir.
- Add the rest of the soup Ingredients; chicken and dashi stock, soy sauce, sake, salt and sugar. Stir well and simmer for a few minutes.
- Next, drain the soup stock through a mesh strainer or cheese-cloth and return soup back to pot and discard ginger/garlic mixture.
- Keep soup simmering until ready. Begin cooking ramen noodles. I took Nami's advice and cooked the noodles a minute or so less than needed because the hot stock will cook them more.
- Place noodles in bowl first, then add soup stock and garnish with all the toppings.
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