Japanese noodle soup with chicken broth and pork fillet ramen

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 soup chicken (also frozen)
• 1 leek(s)
• 1 onion(s)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 piece(s) of ginger root, approx. 5 cm
• 4 carrots
• 1 handful of seaweed, optional
• 1 pork fillet(s), approx. 500 g
• 100 ml soy sauce, Japanese
• 100 ml rice wine or sake
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 spring onion(s)
• 1 piece(s) of ginger root, approx. 3 cm
• 3 eggs
• 500 g ramen noodles or other noodles
• 1 nori sheet
• 100 g soy sprouts, fresh
• 2 spring onions
• salt and pepper
• n. B. water
• possibly soy sauce
• possibly rice wine or sake

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 5 hours; Total time approx. 5 hours 45 minutes

Japanese style, with predominantly local or easily available ingredients

The broth: Place the chicken in cold water with the leek, onion, three to four cloves of garlic, ginger root, a pinch of salt, three to four carrots, and the seaweed (optional). Add enough water to completely cover the chicken. Choose a pot that will easily hold everything plus two to three liters of water; a five-liter pot is ideal. Slowly bring everything to a simmer and let it simmer for at least three to four hours. The broth will be even tastier if cooked for six to eight hours. If foam forms, you can skim it off, but it’s not necessary. The broth shouldn’t boil too vigorously, just simmer gently. The longer it cooks, the better. Strain the broth afterwards. It’s worth using a good, and above all, real chicken or a fresh chicken. If you use a chicken, you can remove all the meat from the bones after about an hour of cooking and let everything except the meat (bones, cartilage, skin) continue to simmer in the broth. Many other dishes can be made from the meat (e.g. Thai chicken salad and much more). The meat: Briefly sear the pork fillet in a pan on all sides until lightly browned. Don’t overcook, just brown it lightly! Then place it in a pot and pour on soy sauce (I use Kikkoman because it’s naturally brewed) and 50 to 100 ml rice wine or sake (I use Chinese rice wine). Add the sugar, sliced ​​spring onion (with the green parts and just a little of the onion), and grated ginger root. Pour in a little water so that the fillet is almost completely covered with liquid. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Again, simmer gently. After 40 minutes, remove the fillet from the liquid and set aside. Before adding the pork fillet to the soup, cut it into slices approximately 2-3 mm thick. The meat should come from a good butcher; there are astonishing differences in quality. After this process, a good pork fillet is very tender and juicy, not tough and dry. The eggs: Hard-boil the eggs and peel them. Then add them to the broth and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn them frequently so that they are evenly browned by the broth. When they are done, cut them in half and set them aside. The noodles: While the broth is cooking, you can make your own noodles (there are recipes in the database) or use Chinese soup noodles from an Asian store. I’ve had good experiences with quick noodles, but even spaghetti tastes very good in them. If you have a well-stocked Asian store, you might even be able to get ramen noodles or fresh ramen noodles. Always cook the noodles strictly according to the instructions and avoid overcooking them. The soup: When the chicken broth is ready, combine it with the meat broth in a pot and season with a few tablespoons of soy sauce and a small splash of rice wine or sake. Add more salt if desired, but the soy sauce should provide enough salt. Bring everything back to a boil. You can also add more water, depending on how strong or diluted you want the soup. I leave the broth alone without adding any water. When the soup is boiling, all the other ingredients should be ready for the next step, especially the noodles. The garnish: Blanch the fresh bean sprouts in hot water in a sieve. Slice the green parts of two spring onions into rings. Cut small strips (approx. 2 x 3 cm) from the nori sheet. The finish: Ladle the soup into a bowl and add enough noodles to just reach the surface. Place two or three slices of pork fillet on top. You can also sprinkle the meat with coarse pepper. Place half an egg, yolk-side up, on the edge of the bowl. Sprinkle a small handful of sprouts and spring onions on top, then arrange the nori sheet strips on top. Enjoy the view of the soup. It’s best eaten with chopsticks and slurping the broth loudly; then it tastes best. This recipe was inspired by a recipe by Harumi Kurihara. For further inspiration, I recommend watching the film Tampopo. Substitute recipe: You can also place the cooked pork fillet on a bowl of rice and pour the broth over it. It’s also delicious as an alternative dish. The soup isn’t complicated to make, but it does take a lot of time because all the ingredients need to be cooked for a long time to develop their unique flavor. It’s worth taking your time with the broth and allowing it the necessary cooking time. This recipe is a basic recipe. The broth can be further refined (e.g., with seaweed or dashi), or pork bones can be cooked alongside the chicken. A lot of things are also suitable as an ingredient in the soup; just experiment or look online to see what others are doing. The soup is very fortifying and surprisingly filling.