Homemade Chasu Miso Ramen

I knew I had to make Chasu Miso Ramen after I saw the recipe in Nami's beautiful site - Just One Cookbook. The recipe sounded quite simple and not as time-consuming as when you want to make ramen noodle soups that use pork bones for the stock. Since I love shortcuts, I was totally sold on the idea of using ground pork for the stock which makes the cooking time much shorter, around 40 minutes in total. This is the second time I make homemade miso ramen. I got the recipe for my first miso ramen from a cooking-themed manga 'Oishinbo' ;). It was delicious too, but Nami's ramen tastes better, especially because of the gorgeous chasu (Japanese BBQ pork). I am sure I will make more chasu in the future, it's so easy to make and tastes absolutely wonderful!

I did make a few changes to the recipe because I didn't have everything requested from the original recipe, such as bean sprouts and pickled ginger, but all in all, I tried to follow Nami's recipe quite religiously.

Ingredients - serves 2

Homemade Chasu

• 250 - 300 grams pork belly
• 1 tablespoon dashi powder
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup sake
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1-2 inches ginger, sliced
• 1 stalk spring onion, sliced

Miso Ramen

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 100 gram ground pork
• 1 tablespoon hot bean paste
• 3 tablespoons miso
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, ground
• 1 teaspoon dashi powder (or salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 4 cups boiling water
• 2 servings fresh ramen noodles (if you want to make fresh ramen noodles yourself, you can see the recipe in my old post here)

Toppings

• Homemade chasu
• Corn kernels
• Blanched asparagus
• Semi hard-boiled egg
• Blanced baby carrots
• Green onions
• Radish

Instructions

Homemade Chasu

• Cut the pork belly into 6 cm pieces and rub with dashi powder.
• Brown the pork belly pieces in a non-stick pan.
• While browning the pork belly, pour water, soy sauce, sake, sugar, ginger and spring onions to a saucepan.
• Transfer the browned pork belly pieces to the saucepan. Cook the meat over medium heat and when it starts to simmer, lower the heat and continue cooking (and occasionally turning the meat) until the liquid is almost gone.
• When bubbles start to appear, you'll notice that the liquid starts to caramelise and gets slightly sticky. You can turn off the heat now.
• Cut the meat into thin slices and serve.

Miso Ramen

• Heat sesame oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic, shallot and ginger and fry until slightly brown.
• Add minced meat and stir-fry for one minute.
• Add hot bean paste, sake, sugar, dashi powder, ground sesame seeds and pepper and stir-fry until aromatic.
• Add boiling water and lower down the heat before adding the miso paste. Stir and keep warm.
• Meanwhile, cook ramen noodles for 1.5 - 2 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.
• Add your favourite toppings and pour the ramen stock. Enjoy!