Hi there, Stephen here. Today I’m bringing you another guest post with a homemade tofu miso ramen recipe.
I love Japanese food, but it’s something I usually leave to the professionals. I’ve had mixed results making sushi at home; I’m not brave enough to tempura fry anything; and my relatively new love, ramen, is so shrouded in mystery and hype that I didn’t know where to begin. This tofu miso ramen recipe is a great launching pad and turns out to be a really delicious one pot meal.
The key is to start with a good dashi, one of the foundational Japanese soup bases, much like a roux in French cooking or sofrito in Latin cuisine. The dashi is made with kombu, a thick dried sea kelp, and bonito flakes, which is dried smoked fish shavings. You may have to venture to an Asian grocery, but I found these at my local Wegman’s and they are available online too. Once you have a good base bursting with umami goodness, everything is cooked in the liquid so the flavors can meld together. I chose to keep things light with bok choy and tofu, but the variations are endless. You could certainly add cooked meat, seafood or other veggies. One addition I wouldn’t leave out is the fried onion and chili oil as they are super easy to make and are far superior to anything you find in a jar.
Depending on what you add, this tofu miso ramen can be a light lunch or hearty dinner perfect for warming up these last lingering days of winter.
Tofu miso ramen
Makes: 2 servings
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 1 TBSP soy sauce
- 3 TBSP light miso paste
- 3×3 inch square of Kombu
- 1 cup bonito flakes
- 5 oz bok choy (about 5 bunches)
- 4 oz dried ramen noodles
- 5 oz firm tofu, cubed
- 1 already cooked hard boiled egg
- Chili oil
For the fried onions
- ½ cup thinly sliced white or yellow onions
- Neutral oil (such as canola)
- Salt
Directions
To make ramen:
Heat water and kombu in a large pot. Right before water starts to boil, take out and discard the kombu.
Add bonito flakes and simmer for one minue. Turn off heat and let steap for an additional 5 minutes. Strain the bonito out of the water, then add the soy sauce and miso into the water. Taste for seasoning. It should be salty. You’ve now made your dashi!
Bring the dashi (seasoned broth) back to a boil and cook the ramen noodles per the package instructions. Remove the cooked noodles and place in a separate bowl.
Add bok choy to the dashi (broth) and boil for 4 minutes. Add the tofu and cook for one more minute.
Divide the noodles into two bowls and ladle in the dashi (broth) with the veggies and tofu. Add the hard boiled egg and top with chili oil, fried onions, scallions and anything else you desire.
To make fried onions:
Pour enough oil in a small pan to come up ½ inch. Heat oil on medium high for 2 mins. Add onions and fry until golden brown. Regulate the heat to ensure even browning, you don’t want the onions to burn. Remove the onions and drain on a paper towel and salt lightly. Onions will crisp up as they cool.
