BBQ Ramen

Nothing is better in the cold than a piping hot bowl of ramen!  There are a few really excellent places in town (Ramen Tatsu-ya, Daruma, Kome at lunch) and one of the places we frequent is called Michi Ramen.  There, they have a 'Texas' style ramen, which is served with Texas toast and has brisket in it.  Yesterday I made pulled pork sandwiches (2 lbs pork butt, salt and pepper, 1/2 sliced onion and 1 c. chicken broth in slow cooker on high for 4 hrs, then shredded with a fork and mixed with bbq sauce), had some left over pork and pork broth so I made this copy-cat ramen.  The bbq sauce in the pulled pork gave the ramen lots of flavor.

Homemade ramen is soooo much better than store bought.  It tastes better and it doesn't have all that awful sodium and MSG most of the packaged stuff has. That stuff is bad for you!  I remember when I was younger, my mom, sister and I would go to France to visit our grandparents.  My dad stayed back to keep his pharmacy open and he basically survived on packaged ramen noodles.  When we came back, his hair had started falling out! So yea, don't use those 'seasoning' packs that come with packaged ramen...or at least don't live on packaged ramen for a month. Hah!

One of my favorite things in ramen is ajitama, the soft boiled, sometimes marinated egg.  It's so delicious!  So, I finally figured out how to make it.  First, soft boil an egg.  I have a handy Egg-Perfect egg timers, which makes soft boiling an egg so much easier than guessing. You put it in the pot of water with your eggs, and it changes color to the done-ness of an egg.  My vet school roommate, Allegra, had one, and it was so handy I bought one when I moved out.  Really handy for when you're making deviled eggs.  No one wants to guess-boil a dozen eggs!

Anyway, to make ajitama, first soft boil your eggs.  Then marinate for 1-2 hours in a mixture of soy sauce and mirin (sweet cooking rice wine).  Ta-dah! Ajitama!  Word of advice, don't let it marinate too long, otherwise the egg will taste rubbery.

Hope you enjoy! Sorry the pictures are so awful! We were hungry that night!

BBQ Ramen
Ingredients
  • 1 package Ramen noodles
  • 4 c. pork or chicken broth (I used a combo of both)
  • 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3 tbs. lemongrass
  • 1 tbs. minced ginger
  • 1/4 lbs. pulled pork
  • 2 links Andouille sausage, casings removed
  • 1/4 small bag of frozen peas
  • smoked salt and pepper or salt and pepper
  • optional garnishes: ajitama egg (see above), 3 tbs. chopped green onion, sliced radishes, Korean seaweed
Directions
  1. Add 1 tbs. olive oil to large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Saute onion, garlic and ginger and cook for about 1 minute or until onion softened.  Add lemongrass.
  2. Combine pulled pork and sausage to pot until browned, about 3-5 minutes.  
  3. Pour in broth and allow to simmer for 2-4 hours.
  4. When ready to serve, cook noodles in broth for 4 minutes.  Add frozen peas and cook for additional minute.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Serve in bowls and add optional garnishes.




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