spring in your step POSITIVE FOOD
get your vegan on SPRING DELIGHTS.
by David and Stephen Flynn
ULTIMATE VEGAN RAMEN Here we make a dashi, chashu marinade and a La-yu to give this ramen a real pop of flavour. This only takes 20 minutes to make and it is so tasty and worth trying. 20 minutes | Serves 2
Ingredients 250g noodles of choice 180g firm tofu ½ nori sheet Handful of beansprouts ½ bunch of scallions 2 sun dried tomatoes – rehydrated 50g of radish to garnish “Dashi” stock; 30g dry shiitake 1 litre veg stock 1 tbsp tamari 1 tbsp miso Piece of kombu seaweed optional “La-yu” Infused oil: 50ml mild olive oil 1 large cloves garlic ¼ tsp Chilli flakes “Chashu” Marinade for mushrooms and tofu: 4 tbsp tamari 2 tbsp mirin (optional) 1 tbsp soft brown sugar 15g fresh ginger 1 large clove garlic 4-6 tbsp warm water
“Dashi” is the term for infused stock . You need a really good infused broth to start – use kombu and dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms. “Chashu” is the term for the marinade the traditional meat/pork is marinated in. Use the mushrooms from broth – roasted/fried then tossed in ginger and tamari or the traditional pork Chashu marinade which seems to be a mix of soy, mirin, sake, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and green onion. “La-yu“ is a flavoured oil (with chilli, sesame and garlic) that’s really god for drizzling over.
Method; 1 In a medium to large pot over medium heat add the shiitake and kombu with the stock, tamari and miso and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring to dissolve the miso. 2 Next we will infuse our oil or the la-ya. Heat the oil over a low heat. Roughly chop the garlic and add to the heated oil along with the chilli flakes and cook for 2-3 mins or until the garlic starts to go golden. The oil shouldn’t be as hot as to burn the garlic as this will make it bitter. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Pour through a sieve and set aside. 3 Add the sundried tomatoes to hot water and set aside to soften and rehydrate. 4 Clean and roughly chop the scallions/ spring onions, finely slice the radishes. 5 Using a slotted spoon, drain the mushrooms from the broth and roughly chop into slices. Drain and dry the firm tofu and chop into large bitesize pieces. In a large flat pan heat 1 tsp of oil over medium to high heat. When hot, add the tofu and mushrooms and brown on all sides.
6 While the tofu is browning it’s time to
make the marinade. Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger (you can also finely grate the ginger if you have a microplane) and whisk together with the remaining marinade ingredients. When the tofu is browned and mushrooms cooked add the marinade to the pan and work quickly to cover all the tofu and mushrooms in the marinade. Cook for a minute and remove from the heat. 7 Now it’s time to cook our noodles and assemble our ramen. Bring the broth/ dashi back to a simmer. Add the noodles to the broth and cook according to pack instructions. Divide the noodles between two bowls, placing them heaped in the centre of the bowl so we have space to add all our components. Add the broth to each bowl and then in sections around the bowl add the tofu, chopped scallions, mushrooms, beansprouts, rehydrated tomatoes. Drizzle each bowl with the La-yu or garlic chilli oil and enjoy!
