Vegetarian tonkotsu style ramen with chashu style tofu
Making plant-based ramen has been a real learning curve for me. With a lot of experimentation, I’ve found ways to extract maximum flavour from vegetables and imparting umami into my broths. Tonkotsu ramen is a milky ramen, traditionally made with pork bones and so here, I’ve utilised umami rich ingredients such as kombu, white miso, shiitake mushrooms, soy and sesame oil to create a flavourful yet light broth. The chashu tofu is a veggie play on classic chashu style pork and if you’re of the opinion that tofu is bland and for that reason you avoid it, try making this. It’s smoky, slightly sweet and very, very delicious. This vegan tonkotsu ramen is something to be made on the weekends when you have a little extra time, but is so worth it and you could easily double the broth batch and keep in the freezer for when that ramen craving hits.
Serves 4:
Ingredients for dashi stock:
50g shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)
1 sheet of or 10g kombu (dried seaweed - you can buy this at most asian shops or from Amazon)
250ml cold water
Ingredients for the broth:
1 white onion (chopped into quarters)
4 peeled garlic cloves
50g shiitake mushrooms
1 roughly chopped carrot
1 potato (roughly chopped into quarters)
500ml boiling water
2tbsp soy sauce
1tsp salt
150ml milk (whole or soy work best)
2tbsp white miso paste
1tsp sesame oil
4 packets instant ramen noodles (discard the seasoning packets)
6 spring onions/scallions (finely chopped).
Ingredients for chashu style tofu:
1 block of firm tofu
2tbsp vegetable oil
1tbsp soy sauce
1tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (if you can’t source this - use a pinch of smoked paprika instead or another teaspoon of soy sauce)
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
Use any vegetables to top the ramen of your choice. I like pak choi and sweetcorn.
Method:
Make the dashi stock by adding the kombu, shiitake mushrooms and water to a pan and bring to a simmer (don’t boil) and leave to cook for around 20 minutes.
To make the chashu style tofu, add the oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, liquid smoke, salt and sugar into a large oven-proof dish. Slice the tofu into around 8 slices and lay into the mixture. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before turning over and leaving for another 10 minutes. Heat your oven to 200c/180c fan.
In a separate large saucepan, we’re going to make the broth. Start by scorching the onion, garlic cloves, carrot, shiitake mushrooms and potato until char marks start to appear. Add the boiling water to the broth, the soy sauce, salt, milk and leave to gently simmer for around 15 minutes.
Add the dashi stock to the broth and gently simmer for a further 10 minutes. Add in the miso paste and reduce the heat of the broth to low and leave to cook for another 15 minutes.
Take the tofu and place into the oven for around 20 minutes or until the tofu is crispy on top. I prefer to cook the tofu in the marinade in the oven in this way as the tofu continues to soak up the marinade which infuses it, however, you could simply fry the tofu slices.
Steam some vegetables.
Cook the noodles to packet instructions and place into bowls. Pour over the broth and top with the tofu, vegetables and spring onions/scallions.