Miso Ramen Recipe

In early 2000s, I told my husband that ramen would be the next big thing, and that I should start a ramen shop. Now with the abundance of successful ramen shops all around me, I just mope over what could have been.

Miso Ramen with Soft Boiled Egg, Shitake Mushrooms, Buttered Corn, BBQ Pork, Pork Neck Bones, Scallions and Black Pepper

My husband loves ramen so when we get a chance to go to San Francisco, we head to the Westfield mall food court and have lunch at Ajisen Ramen. Their spicy miso ramen is one of my favorites. Whenever I have their ramen, I try really hard to perfect the ramen and broth ratio for each bite so that no liquid-gold-miso-broth would ever be left behind.

My Take on Miso Ramen

Unfortunately, San Francisco is quite a ways out. If we don't head to San Francisco, we get no ramen and I'm not happy with that. I figured it was about time to make my own ramen. I googled a bunch of recipes beforehand, took a few notes from different recipes and combined them into a recipe that I thought would be good. Since it was my very first attempt at anything, I was certain that my family would run for the door. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case. The miso broth came out perfectly and the bowl of ramen with all the fixings looked absolutely grogeous! For my very first time, I had to high-five myself.

Miso Ramen with BBQ Pork

What made the broth so good was 1, the fat from the pork stock and 2, the butter! Yes, there was butter in this ramen dish. I have never added butter to a noodle or ramen dish before. But that layer of pork fat and butter (I can never go Vegan!) worked so well together with the miso flavor. 

The broth for my miso ramen was made of pork neck bones. I see that other people use ground pork but I really love having a piece of pork neck bone in my bowl of ramen. The meat is moist and flavorful from soaking up the spices and seasoning in the broth.

Miso Ramen

The pork stock was slowly simmered with garlic, ginger, scallions, Shitake mushrooms, and seasoned with sake (or cooking wine), spicy fermented bean paste, miso paste, soy sauce, sugar, and chicken stock powder. Yes, I know, chicken stock powder is cheating but it's makes the pork stock so much better and full of umami flavor so sue me.

For the topping, I added a soft boiled egg, sweet corn sauteed with a generous amount butter (flavor!), sliced barbecue pork, sliced shitake mushroom (from the stock), a piece of pork neck bone (also from the stock), and and a sprinkle of black pepper.

For the noodles, I simply used store-bought fresh Japanese ramen. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Miso Ramen Recipe

Miso Ramen with all the fixings!

Japanese Miso Ramen Recipe

Serves 5

Ingredients

• 1 package fresh Japanese ramen noodles (2 lbs)
• 2 lbs pork neck bones plus 1 tablespoon salt for cleaning
• 5 liters water for stock
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 6 whole scallions
• 10 whole Shitake mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1 tablespoon sake or Shaoxing cooking wine
• 1/3 cup miso paste
• 1 teaspoon chili bean sauce (Toban Djan)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon pork or chicken stock powder

Ramen Toppings


• 5 soft boiled eggs
• Small sheets of roasted seaweed (nori)
• 3 green onions (slice thinly)
• Shitake mushrooms from stock (slice thinly)
• White or black pepper
• BBQ pork (Xa Xiu)
• 1/2 cup corn kernels sauteed or microwaved with 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Roasted nori (seaweed)

Instructions

1. Clean the pork bones thoroughly before cooking: In a large stock pot, add pork bones and 1 tablespoon salt. Fill it up with water and heat on high. Wait for the esyrt to come to a rolling boil then cook for about 5 minutes. Place a colander in the sink and drain the bones into the colander. Rinse the bones clean with cold water.
2. Clean the stock pot and return to stove. Add sesame oil and heat on medium high heat. Then add minced garlic, ginger and shallots. Saute until fragrant (about 1 minute).
3. To the pot, add cleaned pork bones, water (5 liters), scallions, and Shitake mushrooms. Simmer on medium low heat for about one and a half hours.
4. Remove all solids from stock (bones, shitake mushrooms, scallions, etc). Don't waste the bones or shitake mushrooms! Reserve them for ramen toppings.
5. Season stock with sugar, sake/cooking wine, miso paste, chili bean sauce, soy sauce and pork/chicken stock powder.
6. Prepare the noodles per package instructions.
7. When ready to serve, add noodles to bowl, add soup, and toppings.

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Soy Sauce Noodles (Mi Xao Xi Dau)

If you want to work out your arms, forget the gym. Make either fried rice or fried noodles. Nothing tones up the arms more than tossing things around in a wok.

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Soy Sauce Noodles (Mi Xao Xi Dau)

I am fortunate enough to have so many Asian stores around me. I went to one of them recently and happily saw that they upped their fresh noodle game. There were so many options to choose from. There were Japanese udon, Japanese ramen, Korean Japchae glass noodles, Vietnamese banh canh noodles, Vietnamese pho noodles and various other egg and rice noodles.

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Soy Sauce Noodles (Mi Xao Xi Dau)

I picked up several packages of Hong Kong Style pan-fried noodles because I never seen them before and I wanted to try it. For previous pan-fried or stir-fry noodles, I use regular thin egg noodles but the texture is always a little off. Since these noodles were specifically branded Hong Kong Style pan-fried noodles, I knew the texture was going to be great. And it was. It was chewy. The outside was dry but the inside was perfectly moist, something I never achieved with other egg noodles.

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Noodles

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Noodles

For my recipe below, I tossed the noodles with garlic chives and bean sprouts, and flavored it with a soy sauce mixture. If you want to go all out, add protein such as sliced Xi Xiu (Char Siu) and you'll be loved by all. When making these egg noodles, what really helps is a really hot wok. If you don't have a jet-engine burner like they do at the restaurant (I have a high-intensity burner that I set up in the backyard), just make sure to really crank up the heat and be prepared to do a lot of tossing. Tone up those arms and get awesome pan-fried noodles at the same time.

Garlic chives and bean sprouts

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Soy Sauce Noodles

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 14-oz package fresh Hong Kong Pan-Fried Egg Noodles
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1-1/2 cups bean sprouts
• 1-1/2 cups bunch garlic chives cut into 2 inch segments

Instructions

1. For this particular brand of noodles, prep the noodles by soaking them in cold water for 5 minutes. Rinse and drain dry. If you can't find fresh Hong Kong Pan-Fried noodles, use any thin egg nooddles. Bring a pot to a boil and cook the noodles for about 3-5 minutes. Drain and rinse and allow the noodles to dry before adding to the wok.
2. In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, sugar, salt, black pepper, sesame oil and cooking wine.
3. In a large wok, heat up vegetable oil on medium low. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant (30 seconds).
4. Add noodles and crank heat up to high. Using a pair of chop sticks or tongs, toss and airate the noodles constantly so that the noodles are separated and dry. I lift the noodles nigh and allow the strands to fall and separate. This will require a bit of elbow grease so get in there and work those arms!
5. Once the noodles are dried and separated, add the soy sauce mixture, bean sprouts and garlic. Continue to toss and airate until the vegetables are soften.