I’ve always been a ramen fan, but when we first came up with the concept for our restaurant, Shop Ramen, I was really conscious of the need to research as much as we could about preparing Ramen in the traditional way. Lydia and I spent a few weeks in Japan sampling different ramen everyday, and we quickly realised how important the noodles are – they are the central component of the dish, and they have to be perfect. For this reason, at Shop Ramen we make all our noodles from scratch, but for home, we recommend using store bought ramen noodles – try a good Japanese grocer, where they usually have a big selection. Hinoki Japanese pantry on Smith St is a great place to start.
Our menu at Shop Ramen is inspired by both Japanese and Korean flavours – with a fair pinch of our own creative license thrown in! This beef ramen recipe uses Korean soy bean paste (doenjang), a fermented soy bean blend that is pretty similar to regular Japanese miso paste. It is available at most good Asian grocers, in particular KT Mart opposite the Queen Vic market, which has a great selection.
Here we’ve blended the soy bean paste with roasted garlic, mirin, sake and herbs, and combined this with chicken stock for a warming, flavoursome broth. Provided you have everything on hand, it’s a fairly instant soup base that will stand up well with the noodles and various toppings.