Vegetarian Ramen

Serves: 4-6
Time: all day
Source: Serious Eats, Ivan Ramen

Notes: There's no skill here really, it's just a lot of stuff to do and remember before bringing it all together. You can drop 30% of the effort to drop 10% of the taste, so do what you like. The flavoured oil, sofrito, sweetcorn, eggs in chashu liquid.... that's a lot of cooking and pans so consider simplifying further if it makes the difference between trying it or not. You can technically do it all on the one day if you're super organised but I probably wouldn't. Ingredients-wise Kombu and miso paste are probably required, though the napa cabbage and shiitake mushrooms you can replace. The sake and mirin also have white wine replacements if you would prefer to simplify (google replacements).

• Ingredients
• 6 leaves napa cabbage (or savoy)
• 30g dried porcini mushrooms
• 160g shiitake mushrooms (and 15g dried?)
• Button mushrooms for roasting
• 1 leek
• 2 x spring onion bunch (Need 18 - to serve, broth, flavoured oil)
• 2 x sweet potatoes
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Onion
• 2 apples
• 2 x Sweetcorn on cob
• 1 x red onion
• Small red cabbage
• Little sake, or white wine
• 50ml mirin
• Soy sauce
• Cider vinegar
• Eggs
• Ramen noodles
• 6 inch kombu
• White or yellow miso paste
• Sesame paste (or tahini)
• veg oil

• Broth
• 1 onion, skin on, halved
• 2 heads garlic
• 4 inch ginger, 1/2 inch slices
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled, chunked
• 160g shiitake mushrooms, wash (swap some button in, keep some shiitake for roasting)
• 15g dried shiitake
• 15g dried porcini
• 1 leek, chunked
• 6 leaves napa cabbage
• 6 spring onions
• 6 inch square kombu
• Oven to highest
• Prep onion, garlic, ginger
• Coat onion, garlic, ginger in a little oil, roast to char
• Prep remaining veg
• Oven down to 200C, roast sweet potato in a little oil until done
• Roast button mushrooms (or swapped in shiitake too) as a topping
• Meanwhile in large stockpot, onions, ginger, garlic, kombu, 15g dried porcini, dried shiitake, shiitake, cabbage, leek, 6 spring onions
• Cover with water, 1 inch, bring to boil, bare simmer, lid on, cook 1.5 hours
• When broth ready, strain broth into a clean pot.
• The sweet potato blend is to add body to the broth. Cut top off garlic heads, squeeze out garlic. Add to 1/2 cup roasted sweet potato and into blender, remainder of sweet potato is for a topping later
• Add one cup broth into blender then gradual blend to high, 1 minute
• Whisk mixture into broth and taste
• keep warm then briefly simmer before serving

• Flavoured Oil
• 6 spring onions
• 15g dried porcini
• (opt) 15g dried shiitake
• 1/2 cup veg oil
• In 1/2 cup veg oil, add ingredients medium heat until veg releasing steady stream bubbles. Remove from heat, set aside covered

• Soft Boiled Eggs (1 per bowl)
• 50 ml sake (or half water, white wine)
• 50 ml mirin
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 15g sugar
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled, rough chop
• 2 inch ginger, peeled, rough chop
• Bring to boil and simmer until sugar dissolved, then cool and into fridge
• 6 medium eggs
• Water to boil in saucepan high heat
• Pierce fat end of each egg with a drawing pin, timer - exactly 6 mins
• Carefully eggs into water
• Prepare ice bath
• Cooked eggs into ice bath, stir
• Roll eggshells on tabletop, peel
• Eggs in a bowl that barely fits, add cold chashu liquid to cover
• Press double layer paper towels on top, press down, keep eggs submerged
• Marinate for 4 to 12 hours

• Sofrito (230g - note you only need 90g for this recipe, so half if you're not going to repeat, otherwise freeze or use in pasta)
• 110g apple, peeled
• 400g onion
• 50g garlic
• 22g ginger, peeled
• 300ml veg oil (note - this was way too much, just a generous fry is fine)
• Cut down then blitz apples and onion, small dice, not mush
• Add to oil in saucepan and cook low heat
• Dice garlic and ginger very finely
• When apple/onion halfway to caramelise, add garlic and ginger, then cook to uniformly light brown colour, soft creamy consistency, no burning

• Tare (200 ml)
• 112ml boiling water
• 16g sea salt (3 or 4 varieties if you've got them)
• 90g sofrito
• Salt in bowl, dissolve in water, stir
• Mix in sofrito
• Crumble in katsuobushi (shaved dried bonito flakes)

• Sweetcorn (2 x 2cm slice per bowl)
• Boil 10m
• Leave to cool a little, slice sharp knife into rounds

• Pickled Red Onion and Cabbage
• 1 red onion
• Same amount (red) cabbage 
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• Cider vinegar
• Slice onion and cabbage very thinly
• All ingredients in minimal liquid to cover (half water/vinegar)
• Boil then turn off heat, refrigerate overnight

• 1-2 days before
• Pickled red onion and cabbage
• Flavoured oil from the broth section (can be on day, tastier here)
• Chashu liquid for eggs (needs to cool and go in fridge)
• On the day
• Eggs (needs 4 hours after cooking to marinate, up to 12)
• Broth
• Sofrito
• Tare
• Sweetcorn
• Prep (1 hr out)
• Everything out the fridge
• Eggs out, keep the chashu liquid a little can add flavour to the broth, try it
• 6 spring onions chop
• Mince 3 cloves garlic

• Serve
• Bowls, chopsticks, spoons, soy sauce, sea salt, kitchen roll
• Pre warm big bowls
• Light reheat sweet potato and roasted mushrooms in oven
• Simmer water for noodles
• Add to each bowl:
• 1 tbsp flavoured oil
• 1.5 tbsp tare
• 1 tsp miso
• 1 tsp sesame paste
• Minced garlic
• Cook noodles until separated. Drain, add to bowl
• Broth
• Half the eggs, place both halves sunny side up
• Sweetcorn
• Sweet potato
• Pickled onion/cabbage
• Spring onions
• Any other toppings (for ramen the choice is endless)