Roasted Chicken Ramen

Recipe: Roasted Chicken Ramen

Anyone who loves ramen knows the key ingredient is the soup base.

Rich creamy and bursting with multiple layers of flavour, restaurants create recipes over days of reducing stock, drawing everything out of pork and chicken bones, and adding various ingredients to which the dinner’s experience is a magical taste mystery.

Making Ramen at Home

Recreating ramen of this standard is of course rather impossible for home cooks. But through cravings and for the satisfaction that comes after polishing off a bowl of ramen, I have endeavoured to test out various cooking methods that produce stock with a close enough match to restaurant recipes, which can be made in approx. 2 hours (depending on how fast or slow you are in the kitchen!)

You will be surprised at how much flavour can be obtained in your stock with this cooking method

Reducing the stock with an initial rapid boil is the most important part of creating this dish. Roasting the bones and using them as a base to the stock lends the all-important oily cartilage element that is the foundation of a ramen dish and cannot be recreated through reducing instant stock alone.

Step-by-Step instructions for Roasted Chicken Ramen:

Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan-forced). Cut rind off pork belly strips with a pair of scissors. Then roll up and use some toothpicks to secure.
Place chicken wings, chicken thighs, pork belly rolls, shallots and garlic bulb on a roasting tin. In a separate bowl or cup mix soy, mirin and togarashi spice if using. Rub this over chicken wings and pork. For the garlic bulb and onions use a little vegetable oil. Roast for 45 minutes.
For the eggs: Eggs must be at room temperature otherwise they will crack when added to the boiling water. Boil water in a small saucepan and add eggs. Boil for 6 minutes exactly. Remove and add to iced water to stop cooking. You can also use pre-soaked ramen eggs so the marinade has had time to develop more (a minimum of 24 hours).
Cook noodles according to packet instructions. Set aside.
For the Tare: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, gently heat and whisk until smooth. Remove and set aside.
For the Chilli Oil: Place chilli flakes, minced garlic and sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar and crush as much as you can. In a small saucepan add sesame and vegetable oil along with crushed chilli mix and heat gently for about 1 minute, continually staring. Remove from heat and set aside.
Finish the soup base: Remove meat from chicken thighs and set aside. Now remove garlic and onions from shells. Add pork belly, chicken wings with meat, chicken thigh bones, garlic, shallot and minced ginger to a saucepan. Return to the roasting tray and add 150ml boiling water, then using a wooden scraper or spoon, scrape all the pan juices together.
Add the juices to the pork-chicken mixture and with a potato masher, use all your muscle to bash and mash-up. When this is done pour in 1 litre of your chicken stock, place on high heat and bring to a rapid boil. Continue to boil uncovered for approx 15 – 20 minutes or until reduced by a bit more than half (keep your eye on it as if you over reduce you won’t have much soup at the end!). This method is going to help thicken the sauce and extract oils from bones, chicken and pork meat.
When reduced add remaining 500ml chicken stock, bring back to a rapid boil then cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. After this time broth should be nicely thickened and oily. With your potato masher give the broth one last mash, mincing as much of the meat and bones as you can. Strain broth with a fine sieve until clean but don’t discard bones and meat, keep to the side. Later you can pick the bones and fat out of this meat and use it for the following recipe: Japanese Hash Browns
To finish the broth, over a gentle heat whisk in miso tare and 2 tsp of chilli oil.
Now you are ready. Build your bowls. Remove eggs from fridge and slice in half lengthways.
Divide noodles between bowls. Pour over miso broth. layer on chicken, shredded spring onion and eggs.
Serve remaining chilli oil on the side for topping up if desired.

Use Leftover meat to make this recipe of Japanese Hash Browns:

Restaurant quality ramen in 2 hours. Roasted chicken, ramen noodles, gooey egg, nori and spring onion.

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Total Time 2

Ingredients

Broth

6 Chicken Wings
2 Chicken thighs
2 slices of pork belly
6 shallot onions
1 whole garlic bulb
Japanese togarashi spice optional
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tbsp minced ginger
100 g ramen noodles
4 spring onions shredded or chopped very fine.
2 eggs or pre-soaked ramen eggs, see photo instructions below
Black sesame seeds for garnish

Tare

2 tsp white miso red is also fine if you can’t find white
1 garlic clove minced
45 ml soy milk or regular milk and 1 tsp butter
1 tbsp mirin

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan-forced).
Cut rind off pork belly strips with a pair of scissors. Then roll up and use some toothpicks to secure.
Place chicken wings, chicken thighs, pork belly rolls, shallots and garlic bulb on a roasting tin. In a separate bowl or cup mix soy, mirin and togarashi spice if using. Rub this over chicken wings and pork. For the garlic bulb and onions use a little vegetable oil. Roast for 45 minutes.
For the eggs: Eggs must be at room temperature otherwise they will crack when added to the boiling water. Boil water in a small saucepan and add eggs. Boil for 6 minutes exactly. Remove and add to iced water to stop cooking.
Cook noodles according to packet instructions. Set aside.
For the Tare: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, gently heat and whisk until smooth. Remove and set aside.
For the Chilli Oil: Place chilli flakes, minced garlic and sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar and crush as much as you can. In a small saucepan add sesame and vegetable oil along with crushed chilli mix and heat gently for about 1 minute, continually staring. Remove from heat and set aside.
Finish the soup base: Remove meat from chicken thighs and set aside. Now remove garlic and onions from shells. Add pork belly, chicken wings with meat, chicken thigh bones, garlic, shallot and minced ginger to a saucepan. Return to the roasting tray and add 150ml boiling water, then using a wooden scraper or spoon, scrape all the pan juices tougher.
Add the juices to the pork-chicken mixture and with a potato masher use all your muscle to bash and mash-up. When this is done pour in 1 litre of your chicken stock, place on heat and bring to a rapid boil. Continue to boil uncovered for approx 15 – 20 minutes or until reduced by a bit more than half (keep your eye on it as if you over reduce you wont have much soup at the end!). This method is going to help thicken the sauce and extract oils from bones, chicken and pork meat.
When reduced add remaining 500ml chicken stock, bring back to a rapid boil then cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. After this time broth should be nicely thickened and oily. With your potato masher give the broth one last mash, mincing as much of the meat and bones as you can. Strain broth with a fine sieve until clean but don’t discard bones and meat, keep to the side. Later you can pick the bones and fat out of this meat and use it for the following recipe: Japanese Hash Browns
To finish the broth, over a gentle heat whisk in miso tare and 2 tsp of chilli oil.
Build your bowls. Remove eggs from fridge and slice in half lengthways. Divide noodles between bowls. Pour over miso broth. layer on chicken, shredded spring onion and eggs. Serve remaining chilli oil on the side for topping up if desired.