Japanese style ramen soup with a shiitake ginger broth
This soup may look humble but it’s packed full of delicious umami flavour!
I must say I am pretty happy with this recipe! Broth style soups have never really been my thing but my partner Che and our kids love them so I figured I'd give it a go. Plus I have been struggling (okay totally failing) to stick to our food budget so I have been trying to make some more budget friendly recipes. Feeling confident after successfully making a nice broth for my agedashi tofu, I thought I'd try making a Japanese style noodle soup.
I am terrible at following recipes and sticking to traditional method, so I just started with the basic agedashi broth made up of mirin, soy and vegan shiitake dashi stock. And then I pretty much just added anything vaguely Japanese I had in my pantry and fridge. And it tasted yum! The star anise and ginger flavour was delicious.
I was pretty happy with result, but it was when I added some quick stir-fried green vegetables to the soup that it really started to taste amazing......if I do say so myself! The char sesame flavour from the vegetables really added to the subtle flavour of the soup and brought it all together. To my total surprise, this recipe might just be my favourite so far! I love how rich and flavoursome it is without feeling too heavy. You just feel so sated after eating a big bowl. And the kids love it too so that's a win.
The stock I use to make this soup does have a fair few ingredients in it, but you will find that you probably have most of it in your pantry already. You can also adapt the recipe and just whatever ingredients you do have and it will still taste yum. If you are in a rush, you can always skip making the stock and just used the dashi powder and stock cube – just use half the amount of water and no need to reduce it. Then you can have this recipe on the table in under fifteen minutes!
But if you have the time and inclination, do give the stock recipe ago. It will last ages in the fridge as its totally vegan and you can also freeze it. Make up a double or triple batch of it so you have a quick and easy dinner that can be ready in minutes.
Japanese style ramen soup with a shiitake ginger broth
Prep time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Serves: 2 large serves
Dietary guide: Vegan and Gluten Free. FODMAP variation provided - see bottom of the page
Ingredients
For the stock
9 cups of water
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of white peppercorns
2 small or 1 large star anise
2 cinnamon quills
8 cloves
2 garlic clove roughly chopped
2 ½ teaspoons of chopped ginger
1 golden shallot roughly chopped
½ cup of roughly chopped spring onion
4 tablespoons of sake or rice cooking wine
10 dried shiitake mushrooms
5 teaspoons of shiitake dashi stock powder
1 Massel “chicken” stock cube
1 tablespoon of sugar
To finish the soup
190g of dried ramen noodles
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
2 tablespoons of mirin
Approximately 3 cups of Asian greens washed and roughly chopped
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil*
2 teaspoons of sesame oil*
½ cup of chopped fresh coriander leaves
250g of medium soft tofu such a (not silken) cubed
¼ cups of chopped spring onion (green part)
Toasted sesame seeds to garnish (optional)
*you will need more if you want to fry the tofu
Method
First make the stock. Add all the ingredients to a large pot and bring to the boil on a high heat. Reduce to a medium heat and gently boil for about 30-45 minutes or until reduced by about half the amount of liquid you started off with. Strain the stock into a bowl through a fine sieve. Remove the shiitake mushrooms and discard the rest of the stock flavouring ingredients. Slice the mushrooms (or keep whole if you prefer) and return the mushrooms and stock liquid back into the stock pot.
Bring the stock back to the boil and add the soy sauce, mirin and ramen noodles. Stir the make sure the noodles don't clump together. Cook for about 8 minutes or until the noodles are almost done – make sure they are not over cooked as they will keep cooking a little in the hot stock. Whilst the noodles are cooking prepare the vegetables and tofu.
Heat a large fry pan or wok to a very high temperature. Best to not use a non-stick fry pan as you won't get that delicious char flavour that makes all the difference to the soup. When the pan is super hot, add the vegetable oil and sesame oil and toss in the Asian greens. Fry for about 3-4 minutes. Don't stir too frequently as you want the veggies to slightly char. Set aside.
With the tofu you can either add it to the soup simply cubed (as in the images) or if you prefer you can give it a quick fry first. Simple repeat the above process described for the veggies with the tofu.
When the noodles are ready, add the cooked veggies and tofu, the chopped green spring onion and fresh coriander (reserve some for garnish). Pour into two large soup bowl, garnish with the sesame seeds and the remaining coriander and spring onion. Enjoy.
FODMAP friendly adaptation: As shiitake is not good for people on a low FODMAP diet, I would suggest using kombu (kelp/seaweed) Dashi powder instead. However, as Monash does not include Kombu on it’s list, I can not guarantee you will tolerate it well (though it does rate kelp noodles as safe). If you don’t wasn’t to use Kombu Dashi, replace with Massell “chicken stock cubes.
In addition omit the garlic from the stock, reduce the shitake mushrooms to 4 instead of 10 and only use the green parts of the spring onion. If you have access to some dried oyster mushroom you could add these to the stock Choose a gluten free alternative to ramen noodles such as rice vermicelli or 100% buckwheat soba. Make sure to use FODMAP friendly Asian greens. You may like to also include some pan-friend oyster mushrooms when serving the soup.
