It’s is cold out and you know what that means, Ramen for every meal! Thankfully there is a ramen house on almost every corner now, even in Spokane. For me, ramen has been a part of my diet for as long as I can remember. It’s always been my “chicken soup” when I’d have to stay home from school. Unfortunately, my dad was always the one who stayed home with me and he wasn’t the best cook, so it’d always be top ramen. Besides Zippy’s saimin in Hawaii, I’ve never had real Japanese ramen until Colby and I went to New York City.  His cousin who was living there at the time recommended we go to Toto Ramen. After putting our name down on the waitlist and waiting 2.5 hours at the bar around the corner, snacking on extremely overpriced guacamole, the 3 of us finally crammed into the smallest restaurant I have ever seen. This place was barely bigger than a food truck. We sat at the bar right in front of the giant stock pots of broth simmering away. It was humid, small, crowded, and I was a bit hangry at the wait, but all that disappeared once the noodles hit the lips. It was the most amazing ramen I have ever had!  Once we got home I tried and tried to recreate that amazingness in a bowl and I think this method is pretty damn close.

Chicken Ramen                                                                                                                              Yield 4 servings

1 qt Asian Chicken Stock

2t Dashi

1T dried Seaweed

1 pack Ramen Noodles

1/2 a bunch of Green Onions, thinly sliced

4 baby Bok Choy

2T Soy Sauce (or to taste)

4 soft Boiled Eggs

1/2 a pack of Lap Cheong (Chinese sausage)

1/2 block of Fish Cake (Kamaboko)

Sriracha (to taste)

Sprinkle Sesame Seeds

Sesame Oil (to taste)

The Broth:

Step One: Bring the stock to a boil

Step Two: add the dashi, soy sauce; half of the green onions and seaweed let it simmer and reduce until the rest is ready.

Building the Bowl:

Step One:  In a pan, sauté the sliced lap cheong until it’s golden brown and set aside.

Step Two:  Slice bok choy in half-length wise and place cut side down in the in the lap cheong drippings. Cook until the bok choy is tender and browned on one side (if you need, add a little stock to the pan and cover to steam them a little to help finish them off).

Step three:  At the bottom of the bowl, add 1/4 of the noodles then cover with hot broth. Add the lap cheong, bok choy, green onions, peeled and cut in half eggs, sliced fish cake, and sesame seeds then top off with sriracha, and sesame oil to taste.

Other Toppings that are equally amazing!

SPAM

Portuguese sausage

Mustard greens

Miso paste

Potstickers/ wontons

Rotisserie chicken

Furikake

Or whatever sounds good to you!