Shoyu Ramen with Roasted Pork Belly
(serves 4-6)
Ingredients
• 500g pork belly, skin scored
• Vegetable oil
• Sea salt
Pork Stock
• 1kg of pork ribs, cut into smaller portions
• 1.5 kg pork knuckle bones
• 1 bulb or head of garlic, ends trimmed and broken in half
• 5cm piece of ginger, sliced
• 1 onion, quartered
• 10cm piece of kombu
• 60 – 80ml light soy sauce (or to taste)
• 40ml mirin
• 40ml sake
• 1 Tbl caster sugar
Dashi Stock
• 30g dried bonito flakes
• 10cm piece of kombu
• 1 L of water
• 30ml soy sauce
• 20ml mirin
• 20ml sake
• 2 tsp caster sugar
For the bowls
• 750g ramen noodles (or enough for 4-6 people)
• 2 nori sheets, each cut into four
• 3 eggs – semi boiled and halved (recipe at the bottom)
• Scallions, thinly sliced
• Kamaboko or Narutomaki(Japanese fish cake), thinly sliced
• Nanami togarashi
Get your butcher to cut the bones into small pieces (about 5-10 cm). This will expose the marrow, which means more flavour and ramen-licious goodness. Alternatively, if you can’t find knuckle then any leg bone or pork hock will do.
Method
For the pork belly (chashu), preheat oven to 200°C. Place belly in a roasting tray and rub the skin with oil and a generous amount of salt. Roast until cooked, about 60 – 75 minutes.
Remove from oven and transfer the belly to another tray and line the top with baking paper or foil. Place another heavy baking tray on top of it and weigh it down with cans to make the pork level. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until cold. Thinly slice and set aside.
For the pork stock
Preheat oven to 200°C. In a large roasting tin, place the pork ribs then lay the ginger, garlic and onion on top. Cook in the oven for an hour until ribs are browned and the ginger, garlic and onion are golden and roasted. After 30 minutes, flip around the ribs and veges so it’ll brown evenly.
In the meantime, bring a large stockpot of water to a rolling boil. Add the pork knuckle bones and blanch for about 5-10 minutes. This is to clean off the gunk and gross blood stuff off the bones. Tip out the dirty water and thoroughly wash the stockpot. Rinse the bones under cold water, using your hands to remove any last traces of blood and other dirty gunky scummy stuff. Place back in the washed stockpot.
When the pork ribs are done, remove from the oven and transfer the ribs and veges to the stockpot. Pour out the bulk of the fat and then deglaze the tin with a little water, scraping the bottom. Pour out the porky water over the bones. Fill stockpot with cold water to come up about an inch above the pork and veges.
Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium heat to simmer, skimming the scum off the surface. Simmer for about 3-4 hours. The soup will turn into an opaque, porky, collagenic stock. If it looks like it’s reducing too much, lower the heat and top up with a little water to keep the bones mostly submerged.
Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pot and continue to simmer to reduce the broth to 2 litres worth. Add the kombu, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and bring to a low simmer to keep warm.
For the dashi stock
Combine bonito flakes, kombu and 1 litre of cold water in another saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer over low heat for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve back into saucepan. Add remaining soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and bring to the boil.
Add the dashi stock to the pork stock, remove kombu and check for seasonings.
Meanwhile, cook ramen in boiling water according to packet’s instructions until al dente. Drain and transfer to bowls. Pour over ramen soup, then top with sliced pork belly, half a semi-boiled egg, scallions, nori seaweed, japanese fish cakes and nanami togarashi and serve.
