One Pot Ramen

A few weeks ago, Nick and I celebrated our five year anniversary. And to commemorate the milestone in our relationship, we decided to take a long weekend trip to NYC to see all the sights, smells and flavors the city has to offer. On our first night there we stopped at Tototo Ramen – and Nick has not stopped asking me to make ramen for dinner at home since. So finally to appease his request, I tried to recreate the exact ramen we ate in New York City.

One of the best parts about ramen, apart from it being super delicious, is that it is relatively quick and simple to make and customize. Plus, it’s like, super filling and packed with protein. If made correctly, it’s probably not that bad for you either.

The ramen we ate in NYC was thick with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, onions and ginger, so I started with those as my base. Then I added in minced ginger, garlic and shredded carrots for another level of sweet flavor.

Despite all my searching, I was unable to find dashi, an essential ingredient to authentic ramen. So I decided to improvise to achieve that same umami effect created by combining a few things. First, I used a splash of rice vinegar to add some tanginess to the veggies already in the pot. This also effectively “deglazes” the pot – so be sure to scrape up any brown bits that come up in this phase.

Dashi is used as a base for soups like traditional Japanese clear soup or miso. Both of those things were readily available at my grocery, so I grabbed a packet of clear soup powder as a compromise. Honestly, I think this was the best solution to not having real dashi, as the ramen broth definitely tasted very close to what we had in NYC.

When it comes to the pork, there are two ways you can go about making it. Because I was running late on my way home from work, I had Nick sous vide a pork loin (I’m so proud that he knew what I wanted him to do when I asked him to do this part for me!) in preparation. If you’re wondering, I sous vide the pork loin for about 1.5 hours at 145 F.

Alternatively if sous vide isn’t your style, you can sear the pork in the bottom of the pot you plan on making the ramen in first, then add it back in at the end and simmer until it is cooked through, which will probably be an hour or two. However you do it, both methods lead to tender, juicy pork.

I quickly seared my sous vide pork loin, right before cutting it into chops for our bowls of ramen. In NYC, they served two or three large slices of pork loin in our bowls – so much I could barely eat it all.

Adding the noodles is the last step to ramen. Traditionally, ramen noodles are dried in squares which quickly rehydrate when submerged in broth. However, there are instant noodles that come in packages where they are already softened and only take about 30 seconds to reheat.

You can also add poached or soft boiled eggs to ramen, which personally are my favorite parts about ramen! In NYC our eggs were soft boiled, but it’s not unheard of to add poached eggs instead. If you make soft boiled eggs, you can make those up to a day ahead of time. Or if you are making ramen on the fly, you can poach the eggs in the broth just prior to serving.

Regardless of what you put in your bowl of ramen, your bound to end up with something delicious. I garnished our at-home ramen with spicy microgreens, green onions, sambal olek and sesame seeds for an authentic touch. Now that we know how simple ramen is to make at home, I think I’ll be making Nick cook it for himself the next time he requests it!