Knowing me means knowing that I run to the asian market coming back with so much asian food that I am unsure if I am buying too much asian food or if I simply need another shelf 🤓

One of the things that we tended to eat mostly in our favorite asian restaurants was Ramen - simply for the reason that I couldn't come up with my own Ramen that resembled a good Ramen taste.

There is not "that one Ramen recipe" and that is a good thing leaving you the option to always experience a new kind of Ramen. Wikipedia states this

Ramen (/ˈrɑːmən/) (拉麺, ラーメン, rāmen, Japanese pronunciation: [ɾaꜜːmeɴ]) (literally: "pulled noodles"[2]) is a Japanesenoodle soup. It consists of Chinese wheat noodles served in a meat or (occasionally) fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork (叉焼, chāshū), nori (dried seaweed), menma, and scallions. Nearly every region in Japan has its own variation of ramen, such as the tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen of Kyushu and the misoramen of Hokkaido. Mazemen is a ramen dish that is not served in a soup, but rather with a sauce (such as tare), like noodles that are served with a sweet and sour sauce.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen

So, obviously, originally Ramen Soup was not vegan at all - probably primarily for the fact that meat already brings some taste to its water base when you cook it - but it's actually easy to create a tasteful vegan Ramen Soup since there is a lot of plant-based ingredients that will work the same way 🥰

My special ingredients providing for a special Ramen taste are: Soy Bean Paste, Shimeji (Beech Mushrooms) and Coriander Root. You will get both in any good asian market of your choice.

Prep Time 0m
Time ~30m
Servings For 3 People

Little Helpers for the perfect Ramen

  • Sure thing: Get some Chopsticks
  • Neat Ramen Bowls - please take care to focus on glass/stone/porcelain material since some synthetic materials are still questionable
  • With a Julienne Cutter you can cut the carrot into neat little stripes

Ingredients

What we need for the delicious Broth 🍲

  • 400ml Water for cooking the Broth ingredients
  • 600ml Water for cooking our Mushrooms
  • 1 Bird Eye Chili (the small one)
  • 4 Cloves of Garlic
  • 1 big Onion
  • 3 pieces of Coriander Root (!) [1]
  • 1tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 1tsp Soy Paste
  • 1 small thumb-sized Ginger Root
  • 1 flat tbsp vegetable broth powder
  • 1 Nori Leaf
  • The leaf of one piece of celery stalk
  • 1 Cinnamon Stick (optional! Do not use cinnamon powder!)

  • 1 big handful of Shimeji Mushrooms (=Beech Mushrooms)
  • 1 handful of Shiitake or 4 brown/white mushrooms [2]
  • 2-3 shallots

[1] Yes we do need the Root of the Coriander. We will use the actual coriander at the end for garnishing but the Coriander Root will be cooked. Unfortunately many supermarkets sell Coriander without Root so you will probably need to check your local asian market ☝🏽

[2] Take Shiitake Mushrooms (e.g. dried ones) if you can. They have a more intense taste 💖 and they are available in most supermarkets.

Ramen Content Ingredients

(Don't be confused: The mushrooms from the Broth creation will appear as Ramen content ingredient later 😋)

  • 300g Udon / Rice Noodles
  • 1 Red Sweet Pepper
  • 1 Carrot
  • 1 Spring Onion
  • 2 Pak Choi, each the size of a Hand
  • Soy Bean Sprouts
  • 400g Tofu
  • 1tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 1tbsp Palm Sugar (or 1tbsp of Maple/Rice Syrup)

Instructions

Preparing the 1L Broth

  1. Add 400ml Water into a pot (we need the remaining 600ml Water later)
  2. Add the 1 tablespoon of Vegebetable Broth Powder
  3. Add the coriander roots
  4. Cut the Birds-Eye Chili open and add it to the broth as one piece
  5. Add the Soy Sauce
  6. Add the Soy Paste
  7. Cut the Ginger Root in coarse pieces and add them in the broth
  8. Add the Nori Leaf
  9. Add the top of the Celery Stalk (the part with the leaves only)
  10. Optional: Add 1 cinnamon stick in the broth
  11. Cut the onion in coarse pieces and add it
  12. Stir Everything and start cooking the broth slowly at medium-high heat for 15mins
  13. Cut the Shallots into coarse oblong/coarse pieces and put them aside
  14. If your Shiitake or other Mushrooms are rather big then cut them in halves (do not cut the beech mushrooms in halves!) and put them aside
  15. Make sure the beech mushroom root is cut off (~1cm)

Psst: The Broth is not yet fully done! The mushrooms are missing but they are added later. First we need to focus on preparing the Ramen Contents 😌

Preparing the Ramen Contents

As a first step you could make sure that the plates/bowls you will be serving your Ramen with are not cold such that the Ramen itself does not cool down too fast. This is e.g. achieved by pouring hot water over your Bowls/Plates first.

  1. Cut the Red Pepper into oblong pieces and add them into the to-be-served Bowls
  2. Cut the carrot in half and cut it into very thin pieces (or use a Julienne Cutter) - then distribute it in the to-be-served Bowls
  3. Cut the Spring Onions into diagonal oblong, diagonal pieces
  4. Cut the Tofu into squares, add the Soy Sauce and the Palm Sugar to it, add some frying oil in the pan and fry the tofu whilst stirring until it gets a proper brown/blackish color at medium heat (5-10mins)
  5. Cut the Pak Choi into halves and put it aside

Finishing up the Ramen and its Broth

Hint: Since I do not know which exact Noodles 🍜 you will use please make sure that you cook the noodles accordingly: Cooking the mushrooms, the pak choi and the shallots does not take more time than 6 minutes in total so if your noodles require a total cooking time of 6 minutes you should start cooking them exactly when you start cooking the mushrooms ☝🏽

  1. Remove all hard ingredients from your broth with a Straining Spoon (so the coriander root, the chili, etc.) such that only the broth liquid remains. The hard ingredients should've done their taste-releasing work already 👌
  2. Put the remaining pure water for the broth (should be 600ml) into an empty pot (do not pour the Water in the prepared broth)
  3. Boil the pure water and only when it boils put the Beech Mushrooms in and cook them on medium heat for only 1-2 minutes.
  4. Get the Beech Mushrooms out of the pot with a Straining Spoon and add them to the to-be-served Bowls (do not pour the cooking water away!)
  5. Now cook the other Mushrooms as well in the same water for 1 minute and then add them to the Bowls as well
  6. You can now cook the Pak Choi halves for 40seconds in that same water and then add them to the Bowls
  7. Now pour that mushrooms-pak-choi cooking water into the Broth to give it its unique taste 🤩
  8. Lastly add the cutted shallots to the Broth, cook for 2 more minutes and and stir thoroughly
  9. Try the broth before serving it: It should be a bit more salty than normal since the other ingredients will undo the salty taste. Feel free to add a bit more soy sauce if needed.
  10. Add the hot noodles, the Tofu and the Soy Sprouts to your Bowls next to the other ingredients and pour the delicious Broth over it. Garnish it with some fresh coriander and spring onion pieces and enjoy! 🥰 🍲💚

What is your favorite Ramen Recipe? What are your favorite Ingredients and which are the absolute must-have ingredients for a unique taste? Reach out to me on the different channels and share your thoughts 🤗