My son and I were passing by one of the larger Asian markets in the area on Saturday, MD Oriental Market in Brandon. And we had a little time on our hands, so we popped in and I decided to buy all the ingredients for homemade ramen, as I’ve been wanting to try my hand at it. I was a little ambitious and searched a few recipes while I was in the market. We shopped for the ingredients with some help from one of the helpful young men who was stocking the shelves. Yes, I needed some help with the ingredients since some of the item names were unfamiliar to me.

The cooking process is easier than you’d think but takes a little planning and prep work. Let’s start with the pork belly since it takes the longest!

Ingredients and directions for the pork belly :

1 1/4 c. soy sauce

1 1/4 c. mirin

1/2 c. sake

1 1/2 c. water

1/4 granulated (white) sugar

2 tbsp. packed brown sugar

1 (about 2″) piece fresh ginger, peeled sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed 

3 green onions, halved

1 lb. pork belly, skin on

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring all ingredients except pork belly to a low simmer and reduce heat to low.

In another medium pot over medium heat, bring pork belly and 6 cups water to a low simmer. Drain after 5 minutes and gently rinse pork.

Place pork belly in marinade pot and bring to a simmer. Cover and continue to cook on low until tender, turning pork occasionally, about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Make sure you pat the pork dry for this next step as you will be frying it. Score the fat of the pork belly. Add to a very tall stock pot with about an inch of hot oil. Make sure you use the tallest pot you have, the pork will cause the hot oil to splash back. Do it leave the oil and pork unattended during this step but do not stand too close to the oil, it spit at me something fierce! Sear each side for a few minutes and about 5-7 minutes on the skin side. Cool for about 20 minutes and cut into 1/2″ pieces.

Ingredients and directions for the soup base :

6 c. chicken broth

2 green onions, halved

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

4 thin slices fresh ginger, peeled

4 shitaki mushrooms, cleaned and slices thin

4 tbsp. soy sauce

4 tbsp. fish sauce

Simmer all of the above soup ingredients on low for about a 1/2 hour. Remove, with a spider, all of the vegetables, leaving a clean broth.

While you are waiting on your pork belly to cool for slicing, cook your ramen noodles per the package instructions. This should only take about 7-8 minutes. I also cut my garnish of green onions while I was cutting the vegetables for the soup.

Assemble your soup when you are ready to eat. Do not to this ahead of time (and do not store your soup with the noodles in the fridge for left overs, it will become mush!) Place the noodles in the bowl first, next add the hot broth then lay your pork belly, mushrooms, green onions and any other traditional ramen topping like a soft boiled egg, on top. My husband and I so not like soft boiled egg so we skipped this step! I hear the pork marinade makes a good flavoring for the egg!

Bon Appetit

Rachel