I really miss a good old ramen bowl more than anything else during the Covid season. In my fantasy dreaming, I’d be having a bowl of the most delicious and divine ramen at Ippudo in Kyoto. How can I forget the last perfect bowl? There is no reservation; service is on a first-come-first-serve basis. But the noodle, the broth, the tare (flavor base) and the toppings are unlike anything I’ve ever had anywhere in the world. It’s well worth the wait to have a seat by the counter, watching the action in the kitchen while savoring every component of the ramen bowl. Well, here is an attempt to recreate that magic in my own kitchen: playing around with the ramen noodle with kale and mushroom recipe by Jamie Oliver.
Nothing is more integral to ramen than the noodles. It is the tie that binds. That’s also where I have some control — given my dough hands, flour and other ingredients and a pasta machine. Among them, the hardest to source is the vital wheat gluten. I was lucky enough to find some at Whole Foods in one of my infrequent food shopping trips.
I follow a ramen recipe from Serious Eats after years of research on the topic. The basic ingredients include: bread flour (99%), vital wheat gluten (1%), salt (1%), baking soda (2%) and water (40%). It’s the low hydration dough that makes it very very tough to knead and to sheet. So I add more water which is not the way it should be done. In the end, I made some OK noodles, but failed to produce the chewy and springy texture I aimed for.
The beauty of Jamie Oliver’s ramen dish is how he uses kale three ways. One way is to slow roast (250°F for 30 minutes) the kale leaves until they turn dry and crispy. Then you blanch the kale to soften it. Lastly, you pickle the blanched kale for some sweet and sour flavor in the bowl.
Besides the noodles, a good bowl of ramen is judged by the richness of its broth. Each ramen shop has its own secrets and tradition; it’s how you separate the extraordinary from the also-runs. Not expecting much, the broth I make, without the long drill you’d need to perfect the art of doing it, turns out a little flat. However, it’s a starting point of a long journey for the ramen obsessed. The image of my last perfect bowl of ramen etches deeper in the realm of a fantastical dream.
Ramen Noodle with Kale and Mushroom
Ingredients
- 1 bulb garlic
- 1 large white onion
- olive oil
- 1 large bunch of kale (200g), mixed colours if available
- 2 tablespoons dark miso paste
- 2 tablespoons white miso paste
- 1 heaped teaspoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon low-salt soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 fresh red chilli
- 400g mixed mushrooms
- 4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce (or mix soy, mirin, ginger and garlic powder, with a little honey or maple syrup)
- 250g ramen noodles
- 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
Instructions
To make the broth:
Separate and peel the garlic cloves, then peel and roughly slice the onion.
Heat a splash of oil in a large pan over a medium heat, then slowly cook the whole garlic and sliced onion for 30 minutes, or until sweet and sticky – keep the lid on the pan for the first 20 minutes to keep in all the moisture, then remove for the final 10 minutes so they get a little colour. Add 2 litres of water to the pan. When it comes to the boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Strain the broth through a sieve and, using a large metal spoon, squash the onion and garlic to release the flavour back into the pan.
In a small bowl, mix both miso pastes and the tahini with a little of the broth to loosen it all up. Stir this back into the main pan and season with soy sauce and mirin. Set aside. Keep the broth warm until everything else is ready.
To prepare the kale three ways:
Preheat the oven to 120ºC/ 250°F.
Remove any tough stalky bits from the kale leaves, then place a third of the leaves in a low-sided baking tray (this will ensure it crisps up).
Toss it with a little drizzle of oil, then spread the leaves out so they’re not overlapping. Roast for 30 minutes, or until crisp and still green.
Blanch the remaining kale in your broth for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove with tongs and set half to one side – it is perfect as it is.
The other half is going to become the pickle. When the kale for pickling is cool enough to handle, squeeze out all the juice into the broth, and put the kale in a bowl.
Scrunch roughly with the sugar, vinegar and a pinch of sea salt, then finely slice and toss through the red chilli.
To cook the mushrooms:
Thickly slice and dry-fry the mushrooms in a frying pan for about 10 minutes, or until they look a bit wrinkly and have stopped releasing water. Pour in the teriyaki and a splash of oil and keep them all moving around the pan for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they have soaked it all up and they are dark and shiny. Set aside.
To cook and serve the noodles:
Cook the noodles in the broth, according to the packet instructions. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan.
Once everything is ready, divide the noodles and broth between four bowls, along with the mushrooms, pickled kale, blanched kale and crispy kale for the top.
Sprinkle over the toasted seeds, then serve with chilli sauce and toasted sesame oil for drizzling over.
Notes
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/super-noodle-ramen-with-kale-barbecue-mushrooms/
3 Comments
Kimi San Bhopal
May 26, 2020 at 11:38 amLooks absolutely delicious
Kim Tracy
May 31, 2020 at 4:12 pmI’m having a chuckle at your “brain dough” and wondering at how you produced such lovely noodles. It does look extremely challenging, but worth perfecting. Both ramen bowls look incredible, but the color on your mushrooms next to the bright green pop of your kale is oh so inviting!
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