John Myers
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Homemade tonkatsu ramen is an elaborate variant of the noodle soup that is otherwise often only available in instant form. If you don’t want to go to a Japanese restaurant to do this, we’ll explain how to make the dish yourself at home.
The basics: How to make the broth for your tonkotsu ramen yourself
Making your own tonkotsu ramen takes more time than most other dishes. We explain the basics and which steps have to be taken first in the preparation.
- Tonkotsu means “pork bone”. These are the basis of the broth. You will therefore need two pork feet (halved in the middle), 700 g pork leg bones, 450 g pork back fat, and an additional 700 g chicken bones. See steps three and five for more ingredients. You can find out how long the shelf life of meat is in another article.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, then cook the pork trotters, then the pork leg bones, and finally the chicken bones, 15 minutes each. Boiling loosens the dried blood and the broth becomes clearer. After cooking the bones, wash them again with cold water and scrub them to remove any remaining dirt.
- At the same time, fry a large onion, roughly chopped, a large piece of ginger, and 12 cloves of garlic in a little oil until they are well browned. Then put the bones back in a pot and fill it with water. The water should be about 1 inch above the bones.
- Add the sautéed ingredients, 2 roughly chopped leeks, the white part of 24 roughly chopped spring onions, the pork loin, and 170g mushrooms to the water. Bring the water to a boil and remove dirt and scum that comes to the surface until the water runs clear.
- When the dirt has been completely removed, cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat so the broth is gently simmering. Check regularly that the broth is not simmering too much or too little. Cook the broth until the pork loin is tender (about 4 hours).
- Then remove the bacon and store it in the refrigerator. Now cook the broth for another 6 to 8 hours, adding water regularly if necessary so that the bones are covered with liquid at all times. When the broth is ready, bring it to a boil until it has reduced to about 3 liters.
- Now remove all solid parts of the soup from the pot and pour the broth through a fine sieve so that only the liquid remains at the end. Also, slice the refrigerated bacon thinly and serve with the ramen. You can also cut the green spring onions into fine slices and serve them with them.
- Homemade ramen is of course ideal as noodles. You can also use instant noodles.
Tonkotsu Ramen – these toppings are available
There are various toppings for your home-cooked Tonkotsu Ramen that you can eat with the delicious dish. We present a selection of them to you.
- Seaweed in the form of wakame flakes or nori sheets is great as a salty garnish for creamy ramen.
- Eggs, whether in soy sauce, hard-boiled or soft-boiled, are a very popular side dish.
- Even if they are not so easy to get in Germany, narutomaki, fish meat processed into a roll, are part of tonkotsu ramen.
- Bean sprouts are also particularly suitable as a side dish.
