ramenmunchies-blog
Ramen For All
Transform that package of noodles into a gourmet meal
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Sometimes I put tasty bites on ramen.
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Geminids
I made some ramen the other day and tried a new addition to my cupboard of ingredients. I really enjoy experimenting in the kitchen by preparing new foods in different ways. It’s really the best way to develop an intuitive approach to creating flavors and honing new techniques. Just go for it. Maybe do a little bit of research beforehand, but there’s nothing like good ol’ trial and error. Feeling my way around food is definitely a creative outlet that can be really rewarding. It’s important to put feeling in your food! You can taste when food is made with care and affection! The new element this time around was tempeh.
Tempeh is actually pretty mind blowing. It’s the less processed fermented cousin of tofu. It’s made from whole soy beans that are inoculated with a fungus that ferments the beans and binds them into a cake. Alright time to get a little nerdy. So, the most common fungus used to ferment soy beans is from the genus Rhizopus. These are saprophytic fungi, which means they get their food and nutrition directly from decaying organic matter. Basically, these little fuckers secrete external digestive enzymes that break down material and grow into the food source consuming energy as atom bonds break. That’s most types of fungi. The other major type of fungi is mycorrhizal, which is a type of fungus that colonizes the root system of a plant and is able to absorb sugars from the plant. In turn, the fungus is able to reach down deeper into the earth and bring up moisture and nutrients for the plant creating a symbiotic relationship. Fungi are bad-fucking-ass. This particular strain, Rhizopus oligosporus, is highly sought after because the mycelia (body of the fungus) is light and spongy, which creates a desirable edible mass of fungus that binds the beans together. On top of that, the fungus partially breaks down the beans into a more digestible protein that also makes the beans taste better and adds texture. In the end, what’s left is partially digested fermented soy beans that are bound together by a body of fungus. Tasty, right? Rhizopus also acts as an antibiotic that helps lower intestinal infections and inhibits tumor growth, among other positive benefits. I’m not sure why tofu is more popular than tempeh when tempeh taste better, has more protein, and more nutrients.
Anyways, this time I used Shin Ramyun brand ramen, which is another popular ramen brand. They have two types- original (red) and black. Red comes with a flavor packet and dehydrated vegetables, while black contains an additional seolleongtang (ox bone soup) powder, so it’s extra savory. I like this brand of ramen mostly because they give you more noodles than Maruchan and it has the dried vegetable packet.
This time around I didn’t use the seasoning packet at all. I created by own soup base with soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, chicken bouillon, Kum Lee chili garlic sauce, and a hot pepper. Now this base tasted pretty damn good, partially because of the MSG in the chicken bouillon. Let me take a moment to address MSG. Monosodium glutamate is essentially a different type of salt. Some might even argue it is superior to salt. It is naturally found in foods like cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Fuck all the MSG haters. It’s a myth that MSG causes headaches. If you over consume any type of salt it’s unhealthy and your body won’t feel good. So, I’m a huge fan of MSG in moderation and think it’s a wonderful alternative to salt being used in everything.
The tempeh was sliced and pan-fried with some soy sauce and some of the Shin Ramyun seasoning packet. I like to save seasoning packets and use them in different dishes. It was a little on the salty side. Next time I probably won’t put any of the seasoning packet.
Noodles were boiled in the homemade base along with the dehydrated vegetables. When the noodles were done cooking I added the tempeh on top along with some sauerkraut. I love the acidic taste of the sauerkraut, as well as the cold touch it brings to the dish. If I had them, I probably would have added some dried mushrooms and an egg. In all, this probably took about 20 minutes from start to eating.
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A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?
AE
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You never fail me ramen
Finally back. Three years later haha. I went to Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya this last weekend and it was superb as always. The place is an offshoot of a Tokyo chain with locations all around the U.S. There are definitely some pros and cons to chains and I won’t belabor the capitalistic cons, but one of the pros is the experience of getting the exact same product in multiple locations. That’s what makes Starbucks so successful. Is it the best cup of coffee in the world? No, but you can get the exact same cup of coffee all over the world and there’s value in that. You know what you’re going to get and presumably you already like the product, which is why you’ve returned. Familiarity is comforting. Consistency is reliability. It’s not hard to understand the success of so many famous restaurant chains.
On to the ramen. I’ve been to Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya probably five times and I get the same thing each time—Yuzu Shio. Yuzu is a Japenese citrus fruit that resembles a pomelo and tastes like a grapefruit with a little mandarin mixed in. That’s what the internet says. I’ve never tasted the fruit. It’s not very common to eat and is used more like a lemon in western cooking. This version of Yuzu Shio is made with French sea salt and kelp. The broth is delicious. Salty, tangy, smooth, bright, light, and a little kiss of exotic citrus. So good I can never bring myself to order anything else. The broth is mostly clear with a yellow tinge and little fat bubbles that cluster near the top. In all, the dish has noodles, chinese broccoli, bamboo, and some aromatic greens. Simple as a good bowl of ramen should be. Each sip starts with a full-flavored umami oncoming that tapers into the yuzu citrus bite. The steamed chinese broccoli is nice for balance and the bamboo shoots add some nice texture, but the attraction here is really just the flavor of the broth. The first time I ordered it I immediately knew it was a flavor (yuzu) that I never had before. It still perplexes me. I’m so used to lemon or lime, which is such a small taste of the citrus spectrum. I love acidity in my food and I’ll keep coming back for the yuzu.
The Yuzu Shio was delicious as always, but the star of the show was actually a shiitake mushroom in a friend’s vegetarian ramen. Holy shit, that one little slice of shiitake she made me try was maybe one of the most complex things I’ve ever tasted. Complex keeps coming to mind because I had a hard time understanding what the flavors were and where they were coming from. I make (and grow) shiitake mushrooms all the time and they definitely don’t taste like that. These mushrooms were deeply earthy tasting without being overpowering. There was another flavor I couldn’t place along with the same woody taste shiitakes normally have. It was reminiscent of a matsutake mushroom where there’s this weird tiny bit of a cinnamon-type aroma. Damn, I don’t even know how to describe what I tasted, but I had to mention it because it was such a surprise when I ate it. I only had a tiny piece and I kept chewing that tiny piece like I was swishing wine around my mouth trying to taste every subtle note. I’m a novice in both ramen and wine tasting so I’m kind of just like, wow this is so good, and don’t have the vocabulary or breadth of knowledge to articulate the complexity of flavors.
You never fail me ramen.
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