‘Twas a cold and rainy day and everyone was posting pictures of ramen, while I sat at work eating lettuce and at school eating nothing. You see, I have been on this obsession to get skinny so lettuce and celery sticks are a staple currently. I couldn’t help but drool…I get cravings once I start seeing pictures of the same thing from people and then its like an obsession until I make it. So I spent hours today dreaming of what my ramen would taste like. Normally, at ramen places I order the miso ramen with pork. I never really knew what went in those salty but delicious soups, but I figured it was a lot of tasty fats and salt. I’ve been to numerous ramen places and had different types of soup bases– miso, shoyu, that black looking one, and my favorite: Orenchi’s fatty ass pork base hahah. I dream to have it again someday…hopefully this summer while in NorCal =). Anyway, the ramen I made turned out to taste pretty close to what I find out in the big bad world! I actually improvised a lot this time–hope ya’ll like my recipe! Its actually uber easy to make. I know someday I will try to make a pork base– stay tuned!

4 servings:

Ingredients:
Meat:
1/4 pound pork belly
1/3 cup ground pork
1 tbsp hoisen sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Noodles:
1 bag of dried or fresh ramen noodles [I bought a bag and it turned out bad -_- I had to stick with the dry noodles I had on hand]
Soup Broth:

2 cans chicken broth
1 tsp instant dashi (Hon-Dashi brand- I bought the small contained)
1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp miso paste (shiro-miso)

Handful of dry Shitaki mushrooms

Toppings:

Bamboo shoots (canned, sliced)
Corn kernels (canned)
Bean sprouts
Green onions, chopped
Japanese ramen spice
Japanese seaweed
Edamame

1. Heat a pan up with oil. Place sliced pork belly, ground pork and garlic. Let the meat turn a little brown.

2, Add 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp hoison sauce. Stir with pork.
3. Add 1 cup water. Let simmer in the pan with lid on for 20-30 minutes. If need more water, add more. We want the the pork belly to be soft.

4. Put chicken broth, 2 cups water, miso paste, 1tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp dashi, musrooms. Let boil.

5. Cook the noodles. Drain. Set aside.
6. In a large bowl, place noodles and ladle broth over it. Place toppings on top. Enjoy!

***Never hesitate to change ingredients/toppings to your tasting! I added Chinese seaweed to my miso broth for that extra healthy kick!***