Ramen, at its core, is simply a Japanese noodle soup. Of course, anyone who's a fan of this addictive bowl of perfectly flavored broth, chewy — but not too chewy — noodles, and thoughtfully assembled toppings, knows it can be anything but simple.
To those who revere it, ramen (the real deal, not those plastic-wrapped packages you enjoyed as a child) is more of a religion than it is a meal. People spend their entire lives learning how to master the art, and nothing is left to chance.
For the ramen aficionados among us, I readily admit that what I'm about to do may seem like a crime. If it's any consolation, it's a delicious crime.
After years of thinking that a good bowl of ramen was way too complicated to tackle at home, I finally dipped my toe in the ramen pond. Surprisingly, I found that I could make a lovely bowl of noodle soup without too much angst in my own kitchen, and you can, too.
I started with chicken broth (you can use homemade if you have it, or a low-sodium store-bought broth if that's easier) to which I added ginger, garlic, sesame oil and soy sauce. I set that to simmer on the stove while I put together the other components.
I love the pork tonkatsu ramen that is topped with slices of pork that's been breaded and fried, so I tried to imitate it with the chicken breasts I had on hand, which I pounded out thinly, breaded and pan-fried until crispy and golden brown.
Let's pause here for a moment. This may seem like a step too far for an easy bowl of ramen, so feel free to skip it. A lovely bowl can be made with thinly sliced ham, shredded rotisserie chicken or sliced leftover pork chops. This is your bowl, so use whatever you enjoy.
Next, I decided on which veggies would make the cut. I landed on shiitake mushrooms and baby bok choy — although baby spinach, shredded carrots, thinly sliced cabbage and many other options would have worked well, too.
Then we come to the egg. Almost all ramen has a soft-boiled egg floating on top. Achieving a perfectly cooked soft-boiled egg is easy if you begin cooking the egg in boiling water, as opposed to starting it in cold water that you bring to a boil. I don't know why our mothers always cooked their eggs that way, often ending up with an over or undercooked egg that was a nightmare to peel, but trust me, it's not necessary.
If you worry about the small risk of salmonella associated with eggs that are not fully cooked, go ahead and cook yours to the hard-boiled state or leave it out all together. You'll miss the luxurious creaminess the soft-boiled egg yolk adds to the broth, but it will still be good.
Of course, one of the most important elements to this "simple" noodle soup is the noodle. Here you have some choices. In my neighborhood grocery store, which isn't a specialty or gourmet store at all, I had numerous options.
In the produce section, there were fresh Chinese egg noodles. In the ethnic food aisle, I found dried ramen noodles, as well as the standard packets of ramen every college student knows and lives on. All of them work well. I know, because I tried them all. If I had to choose, I liked the fresh Chinese egg noodles best, but it's not a deal breaker.
In most ramen recipes, the noodles are cooked in a separate pot of boiling water. I wondered if that was necessary, so I tried cooking them directly in the broth. It turned the broth cloudy and gave it a muddled flavor, so I recommend cooking them separately.
When it was time to put it all together, I had all the basic elements of a beautiful bowl of ramen. It may not be an authentic bowl, but it's a good one, and my family thoroughly enjoyed every slurp.
Meredith Deeds is a cookbook author and food writer from Edina. Reach her at meredith@meredithdeeds.com. Follow her on Twitter at
@meredithdeeds.
