Takayama ramen
As promised, I am sharing again this very easy but wonderful recipe for Takayama ramen. This ramen is based on chicken and pork broth, soy sauce, dashi and bonito flakes. I served it with sliced chashu pork, bamboo shoots, spring onion and egg. I created this recipe as I wanted to recreate one of the best ramen I had during our trip in Japan in Takayama.
Wandering across mind blowing Japan, it was very interesting to see how much passion and pride Japanese people have in whatever they do. Take ramen for example - hours of making broth, stirring, tasting and often following old family recipes just to get to the point of this perfect umami flavour. Pure savoury magic.
So my ramen craze continues and it looks like I am not going to stop any time soon. I always plan in advance for my ramen adventure and make litres and litres of stock that later on can be magically transformed into this famous Japanese delicacy. I will be sharing my recipe for stock soon. If you do not have access to homemade stock, feel free to use stock cubes.
How to make Takayama ramen
All in all making ramen is easy but time consuming. The whole secret is in making homemade broth, but do not feel discouraged if you do not have homemade stock on hand. You can use stock cubes as well. Then you need to add dashi powder, mirin, soy sauce and bonito flakes and cook it for about 40 minutes.
The original recipe has miso in it but I have amended it to dashi powder. I have tested this recipe with miso and dashi couple of times as we prefer the flavour with dashi. from what I heard my readers love the version with dashi powder as well.
What is dashi ? Dashi is a very popular Japanese seasoning that is used to make stock and create the perfect umami flavour. It is a blend of dried bonito flakes, horse mackerel, shiitake mushrooms, kelp and dried sardines. It is quite salty.
What is mirin? Mirin is a type of Japanese rice wine that is often used in cooking. It is similar to sake but has lower content of alcohol and higher sugar content.
What are bonito flakes? Bonito flakes are also called Katsuobushi, they are fish flakes made of dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna. They are quite pricy but they really enrich every dish. It you love to cook and try new things I would highly recommend buying a bigger pack. You can use it on sushi, okonomiyaki, takoyaki etc. You can actually see bonito flakes in the first photo in this recipe.
TIPS:
- If you are using stock cubes, I would advise using 2 pork stock cubes and 1 chicken stock cube (for 1500 ml water)
- Add only half of the dashi powder sachet, then taste the broth and add more if necessary
- If you don't have dashi powder, you can use miso paste instead. I would start with 1 tablespoon, then check for flavour and then add more if necessary. I would be careful with adding miso if you are using stock cubes as stock cubes have more salt than homemade broth.
How to serve Takayama ramen
Toppings, traditionally Takayama ramen is served with roast pork slice - chashu, spring onions and bamboo shoots but I always add egg on top. Well, if I did not my husband would kick me out of the house :) Of course you can add any topping you want. For this ramen, I would go either for chashu pork or cooked pork loin.
I made chashu pork to serve with this ramen, but I am not completely happy with how it turned out therefore I am not sharing my recipe yet.
Ramen egg - in my recipe below, I also mentioned how to cook a great egg for ramen. Make sure you follow the timing to achieve this wonderful soft boiled egg yolk.
What does Takyama ramen taste like?
Takayama ramen is salty, deep in colour and deep in flavour. Give it a try!
If you are looking for more recipes for ramen, I can recommend you the following:
Click this link if you want to see all my ramen recipes
I hope you will make my recipe and if you do, please leave a comment below and let me know your feedback. You can also find me on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Gab and Gettr. Please say hi and do not forget to tag me in if you make my recipe. I love seeing your creations.
Recipe source – my own
Dōzo omeshiagarikudasai
Soy sauce and dashi based broth with bonito flakes, Served with sliced pork, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, spring onion and egg. This ramen is marvelous.
- 1500 ml chicken broth (homemade, if you do not have homemade you may use stock cubes but flavour will not be that intense)
- 1 dashi (powder (1 sachet), start with adding half of the sachet, taste ramen and add more if necessary)
- 40 ml soy sauce (dark)
- 7 g bonito flakes (dried tuna)
- 3 tbsp mirin
- spring onions (one small bunch, finely chopped)
- bamboo shoots (one small tin)
- noodles (of your choice)
- boiled egg (I usually serve 1 whole egg per person)
- chashu pork (a slice per person, or you can use cooked pork chop instead)
In a medium pot warm up your homemade stock.
Add dark soy sauce, mirin and a half pack of dashi powder. Cook on a tiny heat for 20 min.
Add bonito flakes and cook for another 20 minutes.
Check for flavour and add more dashi granules if necessary.
When ramen is ready, strain it through a sieve.
Place cooked noodles in a deep bowl, pour ramen in, add toppings.
Serve hot.
Boil the water and pour it into a medium pot. Add salt.
Turn on the gas and adjust it to small flame.
Gently place eggs in a pot and cook on a small heat for 7 minutes and 15 seconds. I would recommend cooking no more than 4 eggs at a time. f you want to cook more eggs you will need to increase the cooking time and add 30-40 seconds.
After this time immediately pour away hot water and run cold water on eggs.
Eggs should be creamy and the yolk should be half-boiled.