Whilst I was visiting Japan I went on a magical ramen journey across the country. I tried pretty much every vegan ramen that existed in the cities I visited. And I loved every single bit of it, from the moment you spot the restaurant with its steamed-up windows, entering into the most wonderful smelling room, to slurping up the noodles with the biggest grin on your face.
Since then, I have been on a mission to create my vegan ramen recipe, In particular, vegan miso ramen. Unfortunately, ramen isn’t traditionally vegan. Therefore, many recipes you’ll find online aren’t suitable. And if they are, many of them lack the true depth of flavour that you will find in traditional ramen.
But it is possible to achieve a tasty vegan ramen with a lovely depth of flavour, and I believe I have done so with this recipe! So, let me take you through my vegan miso ramen variation, based on the delicious ramen that I was fortunate enough to eat whilst in Japan.
Equipment:
- High-powered blender or you can use a mortar & pestle
Ingredients:
Tare (sauce base)
- 4 tbsp Sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
- 100 g Red miso
- 2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce
- 1 tsp Brown rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp Chilli oil
- 1 tbsp Soft light brown sugar
Broth
- 1 tbsp Rapeseed oil
- 1 Brown onion chopped
- 4 cloves Garlic chopped
- 2 cm Fresh ginger peeled & grated
- 5 pieces Dried shiitake mushrooms washed in hot water & roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp Dried wakame seaweed
- 2 tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 600 ml Vegetable stock
- 600 ml Oat milk
Toppings
- 250 g Ramen noodles
- 250 g Tenderstem broccoli
- 100 g Edamame beans defrosted
- 280 g Firm tofu
- 1 tbsp Tamari soy sauce
- 2 tsp Toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp Cornflour
- ½ tsp Chilli flakes
- 1 tsp Sesame seeds
- 1 Lime cut into wedges
Instructions:
- Start by toasting 4 tbsp of sesame seeds in a frying pan on a medium-high heat. Make sure to move the seeds around the pan so they don't burn. Fry until they are golden and the seeds are popping out of the pan. Remove from the heat and cool
- Put your cooled sesame seeds into a blender with the rest of the tare ingredients and blend until it forms a smooth paste. Alternatively, you can do this step in a mortar & pestle but the paste will be a bit rough. Set aside the tare until later.
- Heat up 1 tbsp rapeseed oil in a casserole pot and cook off your chopped onion for about 10 minutes on a medium heat. The onion should be soft and golden
- Add your chopped garlic, grated ginger, shiitake mushrooms, and dried wakame seaweed in with your onions and fry off for another 2-3 minutes
- Pour the vegetable stock and oat milk into the pot and bring to a low simmer. Cook this for 20 minutes, making sure not to let it boil as this can cause the oat milk to split
- Meanwhile, you can prep your toppings. If you are using the same toppings as me, then follow the next steps:
- Prepare the tofu by slicing it into thin squares and coating it in 1 tsp sesame oil and 1 tbsp soy sauce. Then press each slice into some cornflour.
- Get a frying pan on a medium-high heat with a little bit more of the sesame oil. Fry off the tofu on each side until it is lovely and crispy. This should take about 4-5 minutes on each side
- Once the tofu is cooked, set aside and add your broccoli into the pan and fry these off on a high heat until the edges char and the insides are nice and soft. This should take about 8 minutes, but does depend on the size of your broccoli
- Cook the noodles to the packet instructions and then drain and rinse under cold water to stop them from overcooking. You can drain and coat them in a little oil to stop them from sticking
- At the same time, cook your edamame beans according to packet instructions and drain and rinse them to stop them from overcooking
- Now return to your broth. Once it is cooked, pour it into your blender with the nutritional yeast and blend the mix until it is smooth and you can't see any bits. It should turn to a really creamy yellow-brown colour
- Put the blended broth back into a saucepan and put on to a low-medium heat so that it stays warm whilst you plate up
- Evenly dollop out your tare sauce base into each serving bowl and then pour the broth on top of each. Using a chopstick or a fork, gently mix the tare into the broth so that it starts to incorporate
- Portion out the noodles into the bowls
- Place the tofu, broccoli and edamame on top. Serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, chilli flakes, and a lime wedge
- Slurp up!
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