Ramen Inspired by David Chang

I randomly started watching the 2009 show "Mind of a Chef, Season 1" featuring David Chang and narrated by Anthony Bourdain. It is great! It's basically dedicated to exploring Chang's culinary pleasures and inspirations, from fermented bonito to Rene Redzepi. The very first episode is dedicated to Ramen and immediately gave me an immense yearning for any kind of ramen. Easy for those in Tokyo, harder for those Vermont.

David Chang is a fan of tsukemen, which is cold ramen dipped into a hot broth and then slurped back in giant quantities. I tried to find a recipe online and got this awesome Cooking with Dog show:




The recipe below is my own version of Ramen, pretty dissimilar but it made me happy. I even packed it up in little containers to have at work!

Ramen to go

Ingredients:

• Any kind of ramen-like noodles, cooked per directions and rinsed in cold water. I used Kame Chinese noodles
• 3 cups water
• 1 scallion, sliced on diagonal
• Chicken bouillon (I like Better than Bouillon, it's organic!)
• Umami paste (Taste #5 Nobu recipe)
• Mushroom oil, such as truffle/porcini oil
• 2 T Tamari
• 1 t red pepper flakes
• Beet greens, chopped
• Nori seaweed (about 1/2 sheet)

Ready to heat

Assembly:

1. Bring water to boil in medium saucepan. Add scallions. Boil about 30 seconds.
2. Add bouillon, umami paste, Tamari, mushroom oil, and pepper flakes. Bring back to a boil.

3. Add beet greens, bring back to a boil for about a minute.

 

4. Add the cold noodles, bring back to a boil to heat through. Are you using chopsticks for stirring? Do!

5. Pour into a large eating bowl. Garnish with pieces of nori. Eat!

Vermont Ramen

I also tried ramen from the package, which is yummy in its own way. Do you like ramen? Have you tried making it without a packet?