Sunday, October 22

Japanese noodles with Ramen-flavors and Aonori

I love Ramen, but would not make it myself since the best you can eat is servedby pros (especially in Sapporo, Hokkaido, where part of my family lives). And I'd rather not imitate the stock made by Ramen-cooks - those who know the alltime favorite movie about cooking Ramen, Tampopo, will know what I mean. Anyway, to have a nice flavourful noodle-dish sometimes, I made up the following recipe. The closest description would probably be that it is a combination of Ramen and Yakisoba (without the Yakisoba sauce). You may find this odd, but I think it is worth a try...

serve 1

ingredients:
50 g mendake or yakisoba oriental style noodles
1 tsp oil
1 Tbsp white onion, finely chopped
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp freshly grated ginger or 1/4 tsp ginger powder
3-4 shrimps, peeled and deveined
2 thin slices cooked and slightly cured ham
75 ml strong chicken stock
40 g mangetouts, cut in half
1/4 carrot, cut into 3 cm stripes
1 leaf cabbage, cut into bitesize pieces, the white parts in fine stripes
1 Tblsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce (if you use kikkoman use less because it contains more salt)

toppings:
Aonori
pickled ginger if you like
sansho pepper or black pepper to taste

1. Cook the noodles until al dente, rinse with cold water, drain and set aside. Heat oil in a nonstick pan, add onion, garlic and ginger, stirring lightly. When the garlic has developed its aroma, increase the heat and add the shrimps. Cook while stirring, covering with the garlic-onion-ginger-mixture until the shrimps are nearly done.

2. Add ham, carott and mangetouts, cook and stir one minute, then add cabbage. Pour in chicken stock and cook until carrots and cabbage are slightly tender and mangetouts are al dente. At this time the chicken stock should be nearly evaporated. Add noodles, stir and add soy and oyster sauce.

3. Serve in a warm bowl, top with red pickled ginger, Aonori and sansho pepper or plack pepper to taste. (If you like this dish more spicy, add chayenne pepper at the beginning along with the greated ginger and use black pepper to garnish.)

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