There are some things in life that I just don’t want to give up if I can help it, and one of those things is RAMEN. When I moved to a little city [read: town of 50,000], I knew they didn’t have any Asian grocery stores and only had a little stock of Asian products in their grocery stores ? so I tried to stock up every time I visited my boyfriend in a large city, or went back to where I am originally from, Toronto! Also – pork belly slabs that we’ve got frozen down in our deep freezer now. ?
The key for efficiency is to pick up a couple packages of the long thin fresh ramen noodles (my boyfriend and I like these more than the medium thick ones) and they are also SO quick and tasty. You can get these from T&T Supermarket if you’re from Canada and live near a big city. A lot of well stocked Asian grocery stores should have this or something very similar. I would stay away from the instant ramen noodles as they are incredibly high in sodium ( The noodles themselves already have a bit of salt so you don’t need to add any salt to the broth. You can always sub with rice noodles like vermicelli!
Things I also love: cauliflower and carrots! I add these to my ramen for a more westernized feel, otherwise, I would also use bok choy, snow pea leaf, or Chinese broccoli (gai lan). Ramen is DELICIOUS with pork, and one option is to make it with my Asian Inspired Pork Belly Recipe.
For the broth, I do use low sodium chicken broth and have made it before with chicken giblets/veggies to control the sodium. This time I ran out of time and didn’t have premade homemade chicken stock on hand so I just got one from the store. Mixed with a little bit of rice vinegar, soy sauce (gluten free), all purpose marinade, and a dried brown date. You can do this same combination with pork for the broth instead of the chicken ??
Crispy Pork Belly Ramen
Satisfying taste of home...or you know, for some of you who aren't Asian, a new taste of deliciousness! Crispy pork, ramen noodles, & delicious broth.
Ingredients
- 2 packages thin ramen noodles, use only 6 out of 8 clumps can be subbed with medium thick
Broth
- 4 cups chicken stock/broth
- 3-4 cups water
- 1/8 cup rice vinegar can be just a splash to cut down on sugar later on
- 1/8 cup soy sauce can use gluten free version
- 1/8 cup all purpose marinade (with Soy Sauce, Sugar, Water, Ginger Juice, Rice Wine, Spices, Preservative, Modified Corn Starch) Amoy brand suggested, found at Asian grocery stores
- 1 dried brown date found at Asian grocery stores
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1/8 cup brown sugar
Veggies
- 1/3 head cauliflower
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 cup peas
- 2 handfuls boy choy, snow pea leaf or gai lan optional
Meat
- 1 slab pork belly
Instructions
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If you're using pork belly, ensure that you have done all the overnight prep and that the pork is pretty close to done when you start the broth.
Veggies
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Chop/slice up the cauliflower and carrots and get the peas ready to put in the broth. Size can be as big as you prefer, though I enjoy fairly small cauliflower when putting it into soups and using it for noodles.
Broth
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Add stock, water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, all purpose marinade and date in large pot. Bring to a boil then add all the veggies in to flavour the broth. Boil for 5 minutes. Bring the heat down and let this simmer for about 15 minutes.
Noodles
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Add the ramen noodles in, turn the heat back up to medium low and keep watch. These cook SUPER fast so they should really only cook on medium low for 3 or so minutes. Immediately remove from heated water and cool down noodles. We run cold water through them ASAP and toss in a little olive oil to keep them from sticking. If you're worried about loosing flavour, with these noodles you really don't if you run water through them. The cooling down prevents them from overcooking in the retained heat!
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Slice up the pork belly, cut the crispy pork skin away from the meat then fry the inner meat pieces. Slice the pork skin and then start to "plate". Put your broth in each bowl, then noodles, then veggies and lastly the pork. Up the spiciness with flavour with Chinese garlic chilli or Sriracha sauce. Enjoy!
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