Shrimp Soup for Ramen

I made a slight tweak to my usual ramen broth and it turned out great. Writing it down so I don't forget it.

Bones of 3 chickens
1.5-2 lbs pork neck bones
1 onion
1 garlic bulb
2" of ginger
4 star anise
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 stick cinnamon
2 dried red chili
1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
2 tsp salt
3 pieces rock sugar
2 tbsp mirin
4 tbsp rice wine
4 tbsp nuoc mom
3 oz package of dried shrimp
1 piece of Kombu
3.5 cups water

Preheat oven at 375F

Roast the onion, garlic and ginger until the onions starts to char and get a few black spots

In a large stock pot bring the bones to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Throw out the water and rinse the bones under cold water. Scrub off any scum from the bones.

Put the dried spices in a cheese cloth or tea ball.

Put everything in the pot and add 3.5 cups of water. It should cover everything, if it doesn't add a little bit more water. Bring the stock to a low boil under medium heat, then reduce to simmer. Simmer for 8-12 hours. You can simmer it longer, if you like. I tend to simmer it for 16 hours and start the broth 1 day before I plan to make ramen.

Red Lamb Noodle Soup 紅燒羊肉麵

Being Taiwanese, I love beef noodle soup and thought about making a lamb version. I love lamb and chinese lamb dishes are yum. Since I've been making hand pulled noodles and needed to practice, might as well experiment with lamb.

紅燒羊肉麵

3 Tbsp oil
64oz chick stock or broth
1/2 can tomato sauce
1" ginger minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 lb leg of lamb cubed
4 star anise
1/3 cinnamon stick
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
4 carrots chopped
6 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp mirin
1/2 cub Shaoxing rice wine
3 pieces of rock sugar or 1Tbsp brown sugar
1 bunch of chinese chives

Soup

Put the oil in a large pan. When it starts to smoke add the minced ginger and garlic and fry for 15 seconds. Add the cubed lamb and brown for a few minutes. When the lamb is brown, add the shaoxing rice wine and cook for a minute. Add the soy sauce and mirin and cook for a minute. Add the stock, tomato sauce and bring it to a boil. Make a spice packet with the coriander, cumin, star anise, and sichuan peppercorn. Add the spice, rock sugar and carrots. Reduce the flame to simmer and cook for 2-3 hours until the lamb is soft and easily falls part.

Noodles

I like to make hand pulled noodles. Just about any good fresh noodle will work, but it's best with fresh hand pulled noodles.

Assembling the dish

Blanch the chives for 1 minutes and rinse in ice water. Cook the noodles based on the instructions on the label. If you're making fresh noodles 1.5-2 minutes is enough to cook the noodles and keep it super chewy.

Put the chives and noodles in the bowl and add the soup to it. You can garnish with cilantro and scallions.

Winter Tsukemen Ramen

On my trip to Minneapolis, I watched Ramen Heads. It inspired me to make a Tsukemen ramen with winter squash. This surprisingly turned out great and way better than I expected.

Broth

I decided to kick up the pumpkin flavor. This is similar to my other pumpkin ramen, but it tastes totally different. Preheat the oven at 400F.

1 Acorn squash
1 Pie Pumpkin
1 sweet onion
1 bulb garlic
2" piece of ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
1" ginger minced
1 sweet onion diced
1/2 cup shaoxing rice wine
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp ground turmeric
6 cups chicken broth or water

Spice packet

1/2 stick of cinnamon
2 star anise
1 dried red chili
1/2 Tsp sichuan peppercorn
4 cloves

Peel and cut the pumpkin into 1" cubes. Cut the acorn in half and remove the seeds. Roast the pumpkin, acorn, whole sweet onion, garlic bulb and 2" ginger in the oven until the pumpkin starts to have some burnt tips.

In a pan sweat the diced onion with the minced garlic and ginger. When it starts to brown, add the curry and turmeric powder and fry for a minute. Add the rice wine and cook for a minute, then add the chicken broth or water. Bring it to a boil and cook for 5 minute. Turn it down to a simmer and add the spice packet. Simmer the soup for 1.5-2 hours.


Pumpkin Powder

1 Tsp sugar
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
4 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

Toast the pumpkins in a pan for 3-4 minutes. Let them cool for 2 minutes, then grind into a powder with the other spices.


Noodles

You can use any good noodle for this, but they should be chewy. I like to use hand-pulled noodles made fresh, but that's a lot of work. Fresh alkaline noodles cooked for 60 seconds should do the trick.

Assembly

Cook the noodles and rinse them in cold water and set them aside. Put 2 Tbsp of the pumpkin powder in a bowl and add 2 cups of broth. Now you're ready to dip your noodles in the broth and slurp.

Curry Pumpkin Ramen

I've been thinking about making a curry pumpkin ramen for a few weeks and finally made it today. It turned out better than my attempt last winter.

Broth

Cut 1 pie pumpkin into 1" cubes
Cut 2 large carrots
1 Onion
2" of ginger
1 Onion diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
1" of ginger minced
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp Turmeric powder
1/4 Tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp salt
8 cups chicken broth or water
1 can coconut milk
1/2 Tsp mirin vinegar

Spice packet

1 star anise
1 half stick cinnamon
1/4 Tsp sichuan peppercorn
2 dried red chili
3 bay leaves

Preheat the oven at 350F.

Roast the pumpkin, carrots, whole onion and piece of ginger until the pumpkin starts to char. Roughly 35-45min depending on your oven. In a pot sweat the diced onions with the minced garlic, and ginger. When the onions are translucent, add the curry powder, turmeric, nutmeg and salt. Fry for a minute and then add chicken broth or water. Bring it to a boil,m then add the roasted veggies and spice packet. Simmer the broth for 3-4 hours.

Remove the onion, ginger and spice packet. Use a hand-held immersion blender and puree the broth. Strain the broth through a cheese cloth. Add 1/2 Tsp mirin and 1 can of coconut milk and simmer for 15min.

Pumpkin powder

4 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp sugar
1 Tsp cinnamon powder

In a pan roast the pumpkin seeds until it starts to pop. Let it cool for a few minutes. Use a spice grinder to grind everything.

Final Assembly

When you're ready to make dinner, bring the broth up to a simmer and boil a large pot of water. Heat 4 Tbsp of butter in a sauce pan. Put 2 Tbsp pumpkin seed powder in a bowl and pour 1 Tbsp of hot butter over it. I like to use fresh ramen that cooks in 60 seconds. In a noodle basket drop the ramen in to the boiling water and put 3-4 cups of broth in the bowl. When the ramen is cooked, shake it off and add it to the soup. You can add a bit of fragrant chili oil.

Peanut stir fry hand pulled noodles

I had to practice pulling noodles today and decided to make peanut flavor.

1 Tb crunchy peanut butter
1 Tb soy sauce
1 Tb honey
1 Tb sesame oil
1 Tb hoisin sauce
1 Tb grated garlic
1 Tb grated ginger
1 Cup finely chopped nappa cabbage
Sesame seeds
Gochugaru

In a bowl combine peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, hoisin, sesame oil and 1 Tb water. Stir until it's thoroughly mixed.

In a hot wok, stir fry the ginger and garlic until it's fragrant. Add the cabbage and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, then add the sauce. Stir fry for 1 minute, then add the hand pulled noodles. Stir fry until the noodles are evenly coated with the sauce. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle sesame seeds and gochugaru.

Black Bean baked Falafel

1 lb dried chickpea
1/2 lb dried black beans
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sichuan pepper corns
2 dried red chili
1 tsp salt
1 lemon

Prep the day before

Soak the chickpean over night and change the water once. Soak the black beans in a separate pan and change the once. You want to soak them a minimum of 12 hours, longer is ok.

Making the batter

Cook the black beans over medium/low heat for 2-3 hours. You want them to be soft and easy to mash. In a food blend the black beans until they're smooth. With the food processor chop the chickpea until it's a coarse meal. Do this in 3-4 batches.

Put the cumin, corriander, pepper corn and dried pepper in a pan and roast them over medium/high heat for 2-4 minutes or until fragrant. Grind the spices in a spice grinder to a fine powder.

Bend the onion, garlic, parsley and cilantro in a food processor until it's a paste, but not too fine. Combine all of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Cooking

Preheat oven 375 degree

Make golf ball size balls and flatten them a little. Bake for 15, turn and bake for another 15min.

Sichuan mustard green fish

I was inspired by the Sichuan fish on Ugly Delicious and decided to make up my own version. This based on what I've seen in cooking shows, traditional recipes and youtube recipes.

Ingredients


1.5-2 lbs fish
1/4-1/2 cup dried red chili
6 cloves garlic minced
1 inch ginger minced
3 scallions chopped
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 cup chopped chinese celery or Cilantro
1/2 cup pickled mustard greens
4 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp five spice
1 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp mirin
2 Tbsp Tobanjan
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp brown sugar

Pepper powder

In a pan roast the Sichuan peppercorns, coriander and 2 dried chili until fragrant. Grind to a powder in a spice grinder and set aside.

Pat the fish dry with a paper towel and cut the fish into 1/2 inches pieces. In a bowl add the white pepper powder, salt and shaoxing rice wine. Let it sit for 15 minute before cooking.

Over low heat, roast the dried chili until it turns fragrant and starts to brown. Add 2 Tbsp oil, garlic, ginger, tobanjan, scallions and mirin. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes on high heat and then add chopped pickled mustard greens and chinese celery. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add 2 cups of broth and sugar.
When the broth is boiling, add the fish and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Turn the stove off and sprinkled the pepper powder on the fish.

Adjust the amount of dried chili and pepper powder to your taste. In Sichuan, they add a crazy amount of pepper corns and dried chili. When it's just me I like 1/2 cup of dried chili. When I cook for the family I reduce the amount of chili to avoid burning everyone's mouth off.