Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Miso Ramen with Marinated Soft-Boiled Egg

PA263188

Now that we've made the ramen noodles, it's time to make some ramen broth!  Some broths take hours if not days to make, but fortunately, it only takes a few minutes to make the broth for miso ramen.  There's two ways you can make this broth:  either add instant dashi and miso paste to chicken broth, or add chicken bouillon and miso paste to dashi stock.  I chose to do the latter because dashi is a lot easier to make than chicken broth, and the two ingredients (kombu and bonito flakes) are shelf stable.

PA243126
 
Kombu is a type of seaweed, and bonito flakes are made from smoked, shaved fish.  You should be able to find both in an Asian grocery store, but I've also found them in the ethnic section of grocery stores. They both are very high in umami, which is why such a simple preparation can produce so much flavor.

Dashi Stock
makes 1 quart, enough for 2 bowls of miso ramen

4 cups water
2-3 strips of kombu
1/2 cup loosely packed bonito flakes

PA243121
 
Place the water and kombu in a medium pot and let soak for 15 minutes.

PA243124
 
After 15 minutes, place the pot on medium heat.  Just before it boils, remove from heat and sprinkle the bonito flakes over the surface of the water.

PA243129
 
After 3-4 minutes, strain through a fine mesh strainer.

PA243132
 
Now let's talk toppings:  my absolute favorite is a marinated soft-boiled egg.  It's similar to lu dan, except the yolk is barely set, and the marinade only penetrates the outer surface of the egg.  It took me a few tries to get it right because the recipe I was using called for the egg to be boiled for only 6 minutes, but my eggs were still too soft at that point.  You want to cook it just long enough so that the egg white is set.  If it's too soft, it's almost impossible to peel, which I found out the hard way.  Eventually, through trial and error, I found that 7 and a half minutes was the ideal amount of time that I needed to cook my eggs to that point.

PB063215
 
Marinated Soft-Boiled Eggs (adapted from Serious Eats)
makes 3 eggs (you only need 2 for 2 bowls of ramen, but you might as well make the third since there's enough marinade for 3 eggs)

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup rice wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs

Combine water, rice wine, soy, mirin, and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Carefully lower eggs into water with a slotted spoon. Reduce heat to maintain a bare simmer. Cook for exactly 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Drain hot water and transfer eggs to a bowl filled with ice water.  Cool for 3 minutes and then carefully peel eggs (the whites will be quite delicate).

PA243116
 
Transfer eggs to a bowl that just barely fits them all. Pour marinade on top until eggs are covered or just floating.

PA243118
 
Place a double-layer of paper towels on top and press down until completely saturated in liquid to help keep eggs submerged and marinating evenly.

PA243119

Cover and refrigerate at least four hours and up to 12. Discard marinade after 12 hours. Store eggs in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

PA263138

As for the rest of the toppings, I didn't have any roast pork on hand, or else I would have used that, but I did have some fried tofu, which worked well with the miso broth.  Other possible toppings include corn, bean sprouts, chopped scallions, nori, cooked spinach, bamboo shoots, etc.  You don't want anything too strong to mask the flavor of the broth, but it's nice to have a few different textures in each bite.

Miso Ramen
makes 2 bowls

4 cups dashi stock
1 chicken bouillon cube
3 tablespoons frozen corn kernels
1/4 cup fresh bean sprouts
8 pieces fried tofu
2 tablespoons white miso paste
1/2 recipe ramen noodles, cooked
2 marinated soft-boiled eggs, sliced in half lengthwise
4 four inch-square sheets nori
2 teaspoons scallions, chopped

Add the dashi stock, bouillon cube, corn, bean sprouts, and fried tofu in a medium pot and bring to a boil over high heat.  Remove the corn, bean sprouts, and tofu with a slotted spoon and set aside.

PA263180
 
Remove the pot from heat and add the miso paste to the stock.  Stir to dissolve.

PA263181
 
Split the cooked ramen noodles between two large bowls.  Pour in the miso broth.

PA263177
 
Top each bowl with half the corn, bean sprouts, fried tofu, and marinated soft-boiled eggs.

PA263178

Place two sheets of nori in each bowl and sprinkle half the scallions over each bowl.

PA263183

Next post:  Momofuku Ramen Broth!
Previously:  Homemade Ramen Noodles

8 comments:

  1. hi joy! amazing post! were your eggs at room temp or were they straight out of the fridge?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, that's a good question! I don't remember now, but that might explain why I needed the additional time cooking the eggs.

      Delete
  2. Wow, great post! I love how you marinate the eggs! Also, have you been to that ramen place near Porter?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have. I wish they had marinated eggs there, too. The broth there (minus the pork fat) reminded me a lot of the Momofuku ramen broth.

      Delete
  3. That looks really good. I've been wanting to make ramen too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would do the eggs from room temp..makes a big difference and doesnt shock the egg and crack it when you put in to boil. Weugh your eggs as they are never the same weight.boil eggs for the following times:
    55~59 grams -6min.20 seconds
    60~64 grams -6min 35 seconds
    65 -70 grams -6min 55 seconds
    when you first place the eggs in boiling water quickly stir them around 10 times clockwise and the 10 times anticlockwise too ensure the yoke is centre as it cooks. I work in a ramen house..this is precisely how we do them perfect everytime

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awesome, thanks for the tip! I will definitely have to try this.

      Delete
  5. So when we put the flakes in we don't heat it? Just remove pan from heat and let the flakes steep for 3-4 minutes? I live in Japan currently, but I'm going to try to perfect ramen before I have to move away from the yummy ness :) Thanks

    ReplyDelete