Click here to read my complete Niko Niku Ramen series.)
Now that we've laid the groundwork for my Niko Niku Ramen, it's time to get down to business. To make this dish, we'll be using the results of the three other recipes in this series. What we'll get is a great bowl of noodles with a rich, soy-based broth, lots of meltingly tender braised pork, and delicious hard boiled eggs. This is ramen the way I like it.
Recipe for Niko Niku Ramen
Gear:
1 chef's knife, Santouku knife, or Chinese cleaver
1 cutting board
1 large saucepan (able to hold at least one quart of liquid)
1 6-quart stock pot
1 strainer or colander
1 ladle
Ingredients (Niko Niku Ramen):
(Spicy Chinese bamboo pickles.)
2-3 green onion tops
1/2 cup of spicy Chinese bamboo pickles (I prefer these over the traditional menma. You can get them in most Chinese markets.)
1/2-1 lbs of Japanese Cha Shu (recipe here)
2-3 hard boiled eggs (recipe here)
1 quart of Basic Ramen Stock (recipe here
1/2 cup of ramen soup base (cha shu braising liquid, recipe here)
2-3 servings of fresh ramen (Available from most Japanese or Chinese markets)
3 tbsp of salt
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tbsp of hondashi (optional)
3 tbsp of shiro miso paste (optional)
3 tbsp of sesame paste (optional)
Prep work (Niko Niku Ramen):
To make the soup for our Niko Niku Ramen, place the Basic Ramen Stock in the saucepan and heat to just under a boil over medium or medium low heat. If the stock looks like it may come to a boil, drop the heat. Boiling will make the stock bitter and cause protein solids to froth on the surface.
Add the soup base to the stock and let the soup come back to almost a boil. Taste the soup and add additional soup base or salt if needed. You can also thin it out with a little water if you feel it's too thick. Remember that the soup will need to flavor a fair amount of noodle, so the flavor should be a little stronger than you might think.
At this point, you have the option of adding ONE of the three optional ingredients to the soup; hondashi, shiro miso paste, or sesame paste. Hondashi will add a marine richness to the soup. The shiro miso paste will make this a bowl of Niko Niku Miso Ramen. Mixing in the sesame paste will make Niko Niku Tan Tan Ramen. I wouldn't recommend more than one optional add-in.
Keep the soup just under a boil until ready to plate.
Fill the 6-quart stock pot 2/3 of the way. Place on the stove over high heat and bring to a roiling boil. Add the salt and oil. Let the water come back up to a roiling boil before adding your ramen.
Each ramen ball is enough for one serving. Let the ramen boil for the recommended time on the package. I tend to pull mine a little early, since I like my ramen al dente, but it's really a matter of personal preference.
As a side note, don't skimp when buying the ramen noodles. Despite all of our preparations leading up to this point, ramen is all about enjoying the unique texture and flavor of these Japanese noodles, which should be accentuated by the toppings.
Once the noodles are ready, pour into your strainer or colander, then rinse thoroughly under cold, running water until completely cool. Set aside in the colander to drain.
Slice or mince the green onion tops.
Slice the cha shu to your preferred thickness. Make sure the cha shu is fully chilled. It will make slicing easier. I like mine about 1/8 inch thick. You'll want 3-5 pieces per bowl.
Peel and halve the hard boiled eggs. You'll want 2 halves per bowl.
Instructions (Niko Niku Ramen):
Place a serving of noodles in mind on the bottom of each bowl. In the center, add a ball of bamboo pickles. Along one edge of the bowl, fan out your cha shu slices in a semi-circle. Place the two egg halves next to each other opposite the cha shu slices.
Ladle the near boiling soup gently into each bowl, trying not to disturb the toppings. The soup should come just over the edge of the cha shu. Add a pinch of sliced green onions on top of the bamboo pickles to garnish.
Serve with a squeeze bottle of more soup base in case you or your guests would like to adjust the flavor of the stock.
There you have it. My Niko Niku Ramen, which literally translates to "Smiley Meat Pulled Noodles". Cheerful little fellow, isn't he? I hope you guys enjoy the flavor of ramen Chubbypanda-style.
Makes 2-3 bowls.
Good eating!
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19 comments:
This looks very good. I'm drooling over it.
I want to jump through my computer screen and eat these.
ahhhhhh~~ i want one~~ guess i'll just settle for santoku in costa mesa's Mitsuwa ^^;;
Very nicely done. So that new camera came in handy after all. :)
You need to open your very own ramen shop!
Home mad ramen. MMMMmmmmmm.
whoa, you're photos are awesome! :) looks better than any restaurant ramen! :)
Surfed to your blog from FeastinginPhoenix.com and I love the domain name. Very funny!
The Cooking Ninja,
Aaah! A ninja! Now we duel... =)
Natalie,
That can be painful. Not that I'd know or anything. Err...
Polar,
I love Santoku. They have some of the best tonkotsu ramen ever.
WC,
I love my XTi.
Steamy Kitchen,
Nah. But if you opened a restaurant, I'd eat there every day.
Vegasbuff,
Yuppers. Gotta love homemade.
Kathy,
Thanks! I've been drooling over your New York adventures.
Prissycook,
I love your's too. =)
- Chubbypanda
mmm. i love when you're making your own food you get enough cha sau
Joanh,
Oh yes. I lurves mah cha shu.
- Chubbypanda
Sweet. When I think of homemade ramen, I don't think of this. I think of foil packets of powder and freeze dried noodles. This takes love.
Elmomonster,
Nothing wrong with instant ramen. Bless Maruchan Inc. Without them, I probably wouldn't have made it through college.
- Chubbypanda
Dude, your Niko Niku Ramen recipe brought tears of joy to my eyes. Tears my friend. That was awesome! Diggin' how you even installed a "recipe" for making boiled eggs. Classic!
Your chashu recipe was interesting. A bit different than mine, but then again, I certainly make no claim as an expert in that field. All I know is no bowl of ramen will ever be complete without it!
Also, you use Chinese "spicy" bamboo shoots. The type I'm familiar with from our travels to Tokyo is the Japanese style "Menma", which the bamboo shoots have this interesting sort of smooth organic flavor profile, with just a hint of being marinated with a shoyu-based liquid.
You got me fired up for some ramen now, I tell ya'.
Pomai,
Thanks, buddy. Getting a compliment from the ono-licious expert has really made my day. =)
- Chubbypanda
Hi quick question. I noticed that you didn't do a parboil on the bones? is that to get a more rich flavor? Thanks for the great recipe. I can't wait to try this one soon!
Thang,
I'm assuming your question is for my ramen stock recipe.
http://www.chubbypanda.com/2007/08/basic-ramen-stock-niko-niku-ramen.html
You bring up a very good point. Parboiling is normally used on fresh, raw bones to remove impurities and blood. It's a technique I employ when making tonkotsu ramen or pho stock.
However, when you're dealing with recycled bones from already cooked items, parboiling is unnecessary. Instead, since a lot of the flavor has already leeched out of the bones when they were first cooked, I roast them to intensify the remaining flavor. The long simmer is then used to extract every last ounce of goodness.
With a fresh bone stock such as tonkotsu, there's no need to add additional seasoning using the soup base created in my cha shu recipe.
http://www.chubbypanda.com/2007/08/japanese-cha-shu-niko-niku-ramen-series.html
For this stock, which uses bones saved from other meals, the soup base is essential. Already cooked bones will not produce as rich a flavor as raw bones.
Great question. You were right on the money.
- CP
My husband found your recipe for this ramen, and he fell in LOVE!! It looks delicious. I am going to try it out over the next few days, but I don't have any recycled bones....just fresh. Do you have a recipe for tonkotsu sock (mentioned in previous post)?
reading this makes me very very hungry! Thanks for sharing and more power!
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