Just as I was starting to prepare some shoyu ramen with chashu pork for dinner, I realized that I never shared the recipe on my blog. I've made this dish at least ten times and yet have never posted the recipe? For shame! It was time to put it out there, because, well, this is a damn good bowl of ramen. Homemade chicken stock is seasoned with shoyu tare and served with perfectly al dente ramen noodles, tender chashu pork, thinly sliced onions, radish sprouts, and soft boiled eggs. It's the best comfort food that will warm you from head to toe.
Shoyu Ramen with Chashu Pork
Ingredients
Chicken stock
- 2 lb chicken bones
- 8 cups water
- 2 inch knob of ginger
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 3 stalks green onion
Chashu pork
- 2 lb pork belly
- ½ cup sake
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup mirin
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 inch knob of ginger
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 stalk green onion
Shoyu tare
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sake
- 2 teaspoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- ½ tablespoon finely minced ginger
- 1 stalk green onion
- 1 3x3 inch konbu
- 1 ounce bonito flakes
Remaining ingredients
- 12 ounces ramen noodles
- 4 teaspoons MSG
- ¼ cup thinly shaved onion
- a handful of radish sprouts
- ¼ cup chopped scallions
- 4 soft boiled eggs
Instructions
- Make chicken stock for the ramen. Rinse chicken bones and place them in a large pot covered with water. Bring to a boil over high heat and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain, rinsing bones and pot. Place chicken bones back in the pot with 8 cups of water, ginger, garlic, and 3 stalks of green onion. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 hours. Skim fat and keep warm.
- Meanwhile, make chashu pork. Combine pork belly with sake, soy sauce, mirin, water, sugar, ginger, garlic, and the stalk of green onion. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer for 2 hours or until pork is fall-apart tender.
- Make tare. Combine all ingredients for tare in a small saucepot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain, discarding ingredients. Let cool.
- Assemble ramen. Cook noodles and drain. Pour 1 tablespoon tare, 2 cups chicken broth, and 1 teaspoon MSG per bowl. Add noodles, thinly shaved onion, radish sprouts, scallions, and a boiled egg. Serve immediately.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
As much as I enjoy tonkatsu ramen, I love shoyu ramen just a bit more. Tonkatsu ramen is made from pork broth, making it incredibly rich and creamy. For this shoyu ramen, I'm swapping out the pork for chicken for a lighter broth that still delivers on flavor. I based this recipe on the shoyu ramen that I thoroughly enjoyed in Tsukiji market in Tokyo, so it has to be good, right?
To make the chicken broth, first blanch the chicken bones in water. You want to boil them for 10 minutes and wash the bones to rinse off all the impurities, yielding a clearer, more clean-tasting broth.
Put the chicken bones back into the pot with the aromatics and water and simmer for 2 hours. Skim the fat as it cooks or chill it overnight, and scrape off the fat. I prefer the latter method because the fat floats to the top and hardens, making it easier to remove.
While the stock is simmering, make the chashu pork. Chashu pork is the most common ramen topping and for good reason. The sweet tender braised pork is the perfect complement to the saltier broth. To make the chashu pork all you have to do is simmer the pork belly with sake, soy sauce, mirin, water, sugar, ginger, garlic, and green onion. Keep the flame on low and cook the pork until it's fall-apart tender. You can also prepare the pork in the slow cooker or instant pot.
Next, prepare the tare. This shoyu tare is the same tare that I use for my abura soba; it's where all the flavor is at! You can make the tare several days in advance and store it in the fridge until ready to use.
Make the rest of the toppings including the soft boiled eggs, thinly sliced onions, and scallions. I like to soak the onion in ice-cold water for 10 minutes to dull the sharp onion flavor.
Finally, cook the ramen noodles until al dente and assemble the bowls with the prepared chicken broth, shoyu tare, and toppings.
Every time I make shoyu ramen, my husband gets overly excited. I take this as a sign that it's a good bowl of ramen. And you know what? I get just as excited.
For more ramen inspiration check out this abura soba recipe!
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