Small confession: I've never had good ramen. I know there are hip eateries entirely devoted to the noodles, and people who have had the real deal in Japan swear by it. The only place I've had that approximates good ramen is a noodle shop in Manhattan, near Columbia University. I have no idea if that was good ramen or not.
My daughter is a Japanese food nut, and she wants ramen. She announced this half way through a food supply run and it forced me to change up my game a little. Find the ingredients and give it a shot. So I scared up a few recipes, made some adjustments, and then put this out there:
STEP 1: THE PROTEIN
I fried up some boneless/skinless chicken breasts in butter in a cast-iron skillet, and finished them in the oven. They had a nice crust.
I boiled some water and then soft boiled three eggs. the technique was to reduce the boil to a simmer and cook the eggs for 6 minutes, then give them an ice water bath and a manicure. My daughter peeled the eggs. She's better at it than I am.
STEP 2: THE BROTH
the base
2 tsp minced ginger
3 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp sesame seed oil
(fry up garlic and ginger in oil in heavy bottoomed sauce/frying pan), about one minute, then add:
3 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium, as it happens)
2 tbsp mirin
(The broth is too salty, so I recommend reducing the soy-mirin base and increasing the garlic-ginger base.)
(update: reduced the soy-mirin base by 1/2 and doubled garlic and ginger. Much better broth!)
(let flavors meld, then add:)
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (homemade, which is why it wasn't 4)
1/2 cup water
Shitake mushrooms
This is our broth.
I served it over fresh noodles that were a little more like Udon or Soba than Ramen, or so I'm told. I like the noodles, but my wife and chil do not, so I will have to try different ones.
Garnished with scallions.
