Beautiful Vegan Ramen Course Taught By Japanese Ramen Master

The key to the taste of ramen is in the broth. Each store has its own way of making a secret and original broth. Conventional ramen broths are made with animal ingredients such as pork bones, chicken bones, and dried sardines.

But for vegan ramens, seaweed and mushrooms are decisive factors in the taste of the broth. Menya Musashi’s style is to add other ingredients such as beans.

KEY POINTS

・ In Japan, Kombu kelp is used to make soup stock, and there are various types of Kombu. In this class, we use Rausu Kombu, which has a strong taste. If you can't get Rausu Kombu, increase the amount of kombu to supplement the flavor.

・ If you don't have all of the ingredients needed for the broth, increase other components to supplement the taste.

・ Dried foods are full of the flavor of the original ingredient. It is used in generous portions because it determines how delicious the soup broth will be.

・ Combine vegetable ingredients to make an intricate tasting broth using ingredients such as corn cobs for its sweetness, tomato for its umami (savory taste), and bean soup stock.

・ Steam the ingredients in order to create the ramen soup broth. If the goal is to create a clear broth, it is better to steam it rather than boil it.

・ If the dashi ingredients have been soaked in water in advance, the steaming time is 50 minutes. If they have not been soaked in advance, steam for an additional 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

・ When straining out the broth, pour it gently so as not to crush the contents.

・ Kanpyo is a unique Japanese ingredient made from drying bottle gourd. It adds a sweet flavor to the broth. If Kanpyo is not available, add extra of other ingredients such as mixed beans to supplement the taste. Another alternative to Kanpyo is dried daikon (radish).

ADVICE FROM MR. JIRO

"Kanpyo is used to give the soup a natural sweetness, but it is an ingredient that is difficult to obtain overseas. If you want to increase the sweetness, add dried daikon (radish). If dried daikon is also unavailable, an increase in sweet vegetables such as onions, cabbage, or carrots would work well. Also, if you want to add a little more richness or Umami flavor, add mushrooms or increase the amount of beans. "

Sauce determines the taste as a key component of ramen. Regular ramen consists of soup broth, sauce, and noodles, and the ingredients are added to complete the ramen, but the unique part of this ramen is the veggie-jang.

Jang is a paste-like seasoning/sauce used in Chinese cuisine.

Think of veggie-jang as Menya Musashi's original vegetable sauce. Plenty of seasonal fresh vegetables will be used. This is the key to this ramen: the veggie-jang is a sauce as well as an ingredient.

KEY POINTS

・Seasonal vegetables that are available to you can be used for the jang. Prepare at least four or five types of vegetables to make sure the veggie-jang is colorful.

・ Manganji pepper is a vegetable unique to Japan. You can substitute green vegetables (such as bitter melon and green peppers) if Manganji peppers are not available to you.

・ The most important factor that decides the taste is the onions. Aside from the onions, any vegetables can be used.

・ Cut all vegetables into 5 mm squares.

・ If you do not have access to white sesame oil, use your favorite oil that doesn’t have a scent or strong taste.

・ Each vegetable should be prepared differently to accentuate the vegetable’s characteristics.

・ Start with colorful vegetables and finish with onions which have the strongest scent. Deep-fry them to remove all moisture.

・ While removing the excess oil, put the fried vegetables on ice to keep the vibrant coloring.

・ Fry the onions slowly to make fried onions.

・ Veggie-jang is a vegetable-based sauce that can be preserved for a long time.The sauce will last for about two weeks.

ADVICE FROM MR. JIRO

"Veggie-jang goes well with pasta if you change the oil to olive oil. You can also use it for somen noodles and udon noodles, so it's a good idea to make a lot of it when you cook. The tip of lasting it longer is to remove the water well."

Ajihen (flavor change) is something that is done when enjoying ramen. The flavors of the ramen can be changed while eating it by adding seasoning agents, flavor oils, spices, etc.

Yuzu pepper is also a popular spice for Ajihen, but today we will introduce matcha pepper which is even more flavorful and uses plenty of matcha powder.

It's spicy and salty, so it lasts a long time after it’s made. It's easy to make and can be used for anything including ramen, so be sure to give it a try.

KEY POINTS

・ Add matcha last to keep the scent from being diminished by heating it.

・ If you don't have Manganji peppers, use greenpeppers.

・ Shin-Shoga (fresh ginger) refers to freshly harvested ginger, but it can be substituted with regular ginger. If it is too spicy, reduce the amount and adjust.

・ Green chili is a very spicy vegetable. If you don’t have any, add green peppers and habanero, or regular chili to make it as spicy as you like.

・ If you store it in a jar, it will last for approximately one season.

・ By adding matcha, it combines nicely with the water content, solidifying into a paste.

Start boiling the noodles, and remove them from the boiling water all at the same time.

KEY POINTS

・If the broth is light, choose thinner noodles. Thinner noodles are recommended for salt-based broths. If you don’t have any, use somen noodles or thin udon noodles instead.

・ Add salt to the boiling water to season the noodles.

・ Make sure to warm up veggie-jang, including both the oil and veggies.

・ Put salt in the ramen bowl while boiling the noodles. Use 2g of salt for 300 ml of broth.

・ Use 300ml of soup per serving.

・ Thoroughly drain the hot water from the noodles.

・Align the noodles in the same direction to make for a beautiful presentation of the ramen.

・ Put the warmed veggie-jang in the center.

・ Never throw away the oil. Sprinkle plenty onto the ramen.

・ Drizzle matcha pepper to enjoy the change in flavor

ADVICE FROM MR. JIRO

"Once you start boiling the noodles, it’s a race against the clock. Prepare the soup and ingredients so that the noodles can be placed into the soup immediately after they are done boiling."

A huge thanks to Mr. Yatogi! Today we learned how to make original ramen designed just for this online school presented by Menya Musashi.

As introduced, they have multiple branches outside of Japan such as in Los Angeles, Seattle, etc… Try them out if you need more ramen inspiration and to try out authentic ramen cooked from the heart.

Menya Musashi Homepage: https://menya634.co.jp/?lang=en