Vegan ramen, a vegetarian recipe from Japan

Name: Vegan ramen
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 2 litres water; 15 g kombu; 8 dried shiitake mushrooms; 1 onion, halved; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 30 g ginger, sliced; 3 tbsp red miso; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil; 400 g fresh or dried ramen noodles; 300 g firm tofu, cut into thick slices; 200 g mushrooms (fresh shiitake or oyster), sliced; 2 pak choi, halved lengthways; 2 spring onions, sliced, plus nori and sesame seeds to serve

Method

Put the kombu and dried shiitake in the cold water and soak for 30 minutes.
Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Heat gently and lift out the kombu as soon as the water trembles, then simmer the broth, covered, for 30 minutes.
Strain the broth. Pick out the softened shiitake, slice them and set aside. Season the broth with the soy sauce and sesame oil.
In a hot frying pan with a little oil, brown the tofu for 3 minutes per side, then sear the fresh mushrooms for 4 minutes. Salt lightly.
Blanch the pak choi for 2 minutes in a pan of boiling water, then cook the noodles in the same water according to the packet. Drain.
Reheat the broth without boiling, turn off the heat and stir in the miso until dissolved.
Divide the noodles between four bowls, pour over the hot broth and arrange the tofu, mushrooms, pak choi and shiitake on top. Finish with spring onion, nori and sesame.

The broth is happy to be made the day before. It deepens overnight, leaving only the noodles to cook when you sit down to eat.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.

Frequently asked questions

Why remove the kombu before it boils?

Heated hard and long, kombu releases a bitterness and a slippery note that spoil the broth. Lift it out at the first shiver of a simmer, once it has given its umami during the soak and the slow heating.

Why stir the miso in off the heat?

Fierce heat destroys its aroma and its lively edge, and the broth turns flat. Turn the heat off first, then loosen the miso in a little hot broth before returning it to the pot, to avoid lumps.

Can I make the broth in advance?

Yes, it deepens after a night in the fridge. Keep the miso for serving time, though, and never cook the noodles ahead in the broth: they would cloud it and soak it up.

Umami without meat in China, Japan and Korea

Fermented pastes, kombu and dried shiitake, tofu and high heat — four sources of flavour that stand in for meat in Chinese, Japanese and Korean cooking.

Japanese vegetarian cooking, beyond sushi

Learn to make dashi without bonito, tell the forms of tofu apart, and build a Japanese vegetarian meal from small plates.

How to cook tofu so it is never bland

Why tofu is not a meat substitute but a carrier of flavour, and traditional Asian techniques to give it real depth and texture.

Vegan ramen

Method

The techniques this recipe uses

This recipe also appears in

Nutrition per serving

Frequently asked questions

Read more

Have you cooked this dish?

More recipes from Japan

Cabbage okonomiyaki

Spaghetti squash sunomono

Sunomono

Recipes in the same spirit