We went to Japan for our honeymoon 2 years ago and ate so much Ramen it’s easy to worry you’ll get sick of it. However the variety of broths, noodles, meats and flavourings make it a completely different meal and dish every time.
Char Sui pork is what’s traditionally served in a meat ramen but it’s a lot of faff to cook for just a small portion so I’ve opted for belly pork. You could, however use leftover pork from a Sunday roast and warm through in a pan with some of the marinade ingredients below. You could swap for chicken or omit the meat entirely although I do really love the flavour of the marinade and think it adds a lot to the dish!
Although this recipe looks a bit lengthy with lots of ingredients, a lot of it is store cupboard stuff (particularly the belly pork marinade) plus lots of delicious, fresh ingredients and inexpensive flavourings like fresh ginger, chilli etc. You can pack this full of delicious vegetables: carrots, mange tout, broccoli, baby corn, pak choi, beansprouts, peppers and comfortably get 3 good portions of veg in this bowl!
I used egg noodles but again, you can use any noodle you wish- rice, udon, thick or thin egg noodles. It’s the beauty of ramen- completely versatile to make your own!
This is definintely more of a weekend recipe but you can make the broth and the belly pork ahead of time and then just reheat for assembling and eating so don’t worry if you think it might be a bit time consuming- I promise it’s worth it!
Ramen with Belly Pork
Serves 2
Preparation time 45 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Ingredients
For the pork
4 slices of belly pork
4 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp light brown sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 grated clove of garlic
30ml water
For the ramen broth
1200ml good quality chicken stock
1 red chilli sliced in half
10 Spring onion stalks
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 large cloves of garlic, grated
1 tsp lemongrass purée (optional)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
Freshly ground pepper
Salt (to taste)
To serve
2 packets cooked egg noodles
Pak choi
Bean sprouts
Tenderstem broccoli
Mange tout
Baby sweet corn
Optional:
Freshly chopped coriander
Freshly sliced spring onions
Sliced chilli
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 165°C
2. In a large saucepan, add all the broth ingredients plus 200ml water and put on a low heat to simmer with a lid.
3. Add the pork to an oven proof dish and add all the marinade ingredients. Ensure the pork is fully coated in the marinade. Cover tightly with tin foil. Bake in the oven for 1hr 30minutes.
3. Once the pork is cooked, leave covered and set aside to rest.
4. Prep your veg: chop the ends off the pak choi and slice the broccoli, mange tout and baby corn in half. Heat sesame oil in a wok and fry all the vegetables until the pak Choi stalks have softened.
5. Strain the broth by passing the liquid through a Sieve into a large bowl. Return the broth to the pan and leave on a low heat.
Let’s bring it all together!
6. Slice the pork belly into square chunks, leave covered and warm. If needed, you can pop the meat back into a frying pan to reheat.
7. Add the noodles to the broth plus any juices from the pork roasting pan.
8. In large bowls, add the beansprouts, and the stir fried veg. Spoon over the hot noodles and the broth.
9. Top with the chunks of belly pork, coriander, spring onions and sliced chilli if you like it hot!
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