Recipe: Tantanmen - Spicy sesame ramen

Recipe: Tantanmen - Spicy sesame pork ramen (Serves 2)

Pork mince

• 250 g pork mince
• Sesame oil for frying
• Mirin to taste
• 2 tbspn soy sauce
• 2 tbspn Doubanjiang
• Optional: 1 tspn Shiro miso

Soup

• 3 tbspn Chimajyan sesame paste
• 1 tbspn Rayu Japanese chili oil
• 1 tbspn Black Zhenjiang Vinegar (Optional)
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup chicken or pork bone broth

Noodle and toppings

• 2 serves ramen noodle
• Wilted greens (bok choy / spinach / mustard greens) 
• 1 cup corn
• Soft boiled egg 
• Diced scallion
• 1 tspn Beni Shoga red pickled ginger
• Other toppings of choice: Menma bamboo shoots, cubed tofu, bean sprouts

Method : Pork

• Heat the sesame oil in a pan and add the minced pork, fry until brown
• Add the doubanjiang and soy and stir fry. 
• Doubanjiang is a Chinese spicy miso / black bean sauce with a killer spicy umami richness, I recommend Lao Gan Ma "Chili Oil with Fermented Soy Beans" which should be available at all Asian supermarkets. 
• Add Mirin 1 tbspn at a time until desired sweetness is reached
• If desired add white (shiro) miso at this point to add even more umami
• Turn the pork off the heat and set asside

Method : Soup

I cheat and start with a tonkatsu soup base because roasting bones is not my idea of a good time, however if you feel strongly about this please refer to this recipe for tonkotsu broth from Serious Eats and prepare 4 cups of liquid.

• I am aiming for 1.5 - 2 cups of broth per person you can adjust the liquid levels to your tastes
• Prepare your tonkotsu broth, if using a base then add 3 cups of water and 1 cup of bone broth per 2 people
• Heat the broth while you prepare the sesame paste
• In a small bowl combine the rayu hot sesame oil and roasted sesame paste, then add to the soup
• Stir until well integrated and the soup has reached serving temperature
• If desired more rayu or sesame paste can be added to taste or black (Zhenjiang) vinegar used to balance

Method: Noodle and toppings

• Pre-boil eggs while preparing soup or earlier in the day, if desired season with tea or soy. Eggs can be set aside and served at room temperature as they will warm with the soup
• Boil the noodles and greens until al dente then drain, spoon per person servings into ramen bowls
• Cook corn and set asside
• Cut or cube any other toppings into bite sized pieces that can be collected with a spoon and chopsticks
• Spoon soup over the noodles until the noodles are almost covered (~1.5 - 2 cups)
• Top the soup with pork, egg cut in half, vegetables and remaining toppings in a circle
• Top the pork with scallions and / or beni shoga 
• Remember ramen is designed to be customisable, add or remove toppings if my defaults are not to your taste
• Serve with your favourite noodle bowls and anime =^.^=

One variation is to top with fried pork belly or chashu in place of the seasoned minced pork.

Review: Nana Ramen, Brooklyn

Well it's been snowing up a serious storm in NYC this week so we were happy to hear the latest chapter in the Brooklyn gentrification odyssey is an authentic ramen restaurant in Bed Stuy.



Nana Ramen lovingly blends authentic fresh noodles and tonkotsu broth with Brooklyn filament bulbs and hipster beards with great results and I'm pretty sure we'll be regulars from here on out.

Chicken Karaage $7USD 

This is an excellent rendition of a ramen house staple. The chicken is juicy and the batter is light and lacks any trace of oil. The pieces are well sized to really maximise on the delicious sesame karaage batter as well. Served simply with a spicy mayo sauce and lemon slice. The serving size is actually a little larger than pictured, we couldn't help ourselves on arrival and ate two pieces before we remembered to take photos. 

Agedashi Tofu $7USD 

I really liked the presentation of 4 squares each with traditional agedashi toppings on them (ginger and daikon, scallions, seaweed and katsuoboshi), you could easily combine on a single piece if that was more to your style. The coating was light and the frying didn't make the dish too heavy, the real star though is the broth which is a fantastic sweet soy broth. My only wish is that this had been silken tofu rather than cotton tofu but well ... you can't have everything for $7 in the back streets of Brooklyn!

Spicy Miso Ramen $13USD

Built on a tonkotsu base with thinner style noodles this dish comes with egg, scallion corn and chashu pork. The spicy mix is interesting and deviates slightly from a traditional Japanese mix but is nonetheless delicious particularly with the creamy tonkotsu. The chashu is particularly excellent tightly rolled and well seasoned. 

Black Tonkotsu $13USD

Black garlic oil tonkotsu is an unusual ramen to appear on menus particularly in the US so I was very intrigued and boy did they deliver. Thick fresh chewy noodles are in a super creamy tonkotsu broth topped with a healthy splash of roasted garlic oil. I ordered mine with extra egg and fresh bamboo shoots. This was the perfect dose of warm soup belly in the NY winter weather. My only complaint is that the bowl could have used more soup, but since this is an option for ordering then I will just get a larger serving in the future. 

I'm super excited by the arrival of this business in walking distance of my house and will be definitely eating my way through the menu. They have a tan-tan-men which is my all time favourite and a curry ramen as well as a Tokyo style shoyu with tsukune that has me intrigued. For appetizers there are home made gyoza and takoyaki amongst others to explore. 

Like any new food business in Brooklyn Nana Ramen is currently being loved to death by the local hipsters so expect to wait for a while or go at unusual times. Our plan of going for a walk in the snow when most people were hiding inside paid off and we immediately got a table. Service is friendly but basic, cash only so stock up on the way. 

Nana Ramen

https://www.facebook.com/nanaramen/

330 Malcolm X Blvd

Brooklyn, New York 11211

Authentic ramen in Brooklyn, simple but definitely worth a stop

Review: Xi'an Famous Foods, East Village NYC

One surprise that hit us when we moved to  the Bay Area was how Americanised a lot of the Asian food was. After moving to NYC we found a heavenly array of very authentic and reasonably priced Asian foods. Xi'an Famous Foods offers one of the things I missed most about home - reasonably priced hand pulled noodles. 

Xi'an Famous Foods has several restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn but I tend to favour their restaurant in the East Village since it's close to a number of businesses I frequent and around the corner from a delightful Italian cake shop (more on that later).

The food is decidedly cheap and cheerful but delicious spicy Western Chinese food. The noodles are all made on site and if you're lucky you can catch glimpses of the cooks making them. 

Being Manhattan the restaurant is reasonably small and New Yorkers have no patience for those who lose them a New York Minute. Be prepared to order if you step in line, don't take a seat until you get your food, clean up your own station and be prepared to get up as soon as you've finished. Those who do not follow the unwritten rules will get passive aggressive interruptions by people waiting to eat. 

Spicy and Tingly Beef Hand Ripped Noodles $7.50USD

Chewy delicious hand ripped noodles are stir fried in a numbing chili spicy oil that is not for the feint hearted. Try the mild first before attempting hotter! The noodles are served with vegetables and fatty meat.

Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand Ripped Noodles $8.25USD

Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger $4

Both the lamb noodles and the lamb burger contain a cumin drenched dry lamb with vegetables. The burger is on a mantou style bun grilled on a flat top until crispy. The noodles are stir fried with more of the cumin, vegetables and chili oil. 

Mount Qi Pork Hand Pulled Noodles $7.00USD

Pork Zha Jiang Hand Ripped Noodles $7.00USD

Spicy and Sour Lamb Dumpings $7.00USD

The Mount Qi pork is cubes of pork belly grilled with noodles and a slightly less spicy sauce. The Zha Jiang noodles feature ground pork fried in an umame soy bean sauce, deeelicious! The spicy and sour lamb dumplings are stuffed with a ground lamb filling and served with vinegar and soy.

Close up of Pork Zha Jiang Hand Ripped Noodles $7.00USD

This is easily my favourite dish on their menu and reminds me of a dry tantanmen without the sesame. 

Go in expecting exactly what it is - a cheap limited menu of food made extraordinarily well. Not pictured are the noodle soup versions of each dish. Everything they make is excellent. Make sure to eat in, the delicate nature of the noodles does not survive delivery or a walk home. Cold drinks are available like Chinese teas and Coke products. 

I really rather wished they offered condiments,, I keep wanting black vinegar to cut through the oil. Also the chopsticks they use leave a lot to be desired and if you're willing to endure the odd looks of your fellow diners I would recommend bringing some of your own from another restaurant or home. Still this is one of my favourite cheap food desinations in NYC, try it out.

Xi’an Famous Foods

http://xianfoods.com/menu/

81 St Marks Pl

New York, NY 10003

Ph: (212) 786-2068

Cheap and cheerful artisan noodles, good for the spicy food lover

Yamadaya Ramen, Japantown San Francisco

Regular readers of my blog know how much I love ramen and particularly tonkotsu ramen - a milky pork broth made with lots of collagen. So when I found out there was a tonkotsu specialty restaurant mere blocks from my house I got very excited. 

We were not disappointed on arrival, this is the best and most authentic ramen joint in San Francisco today. Most ramen places in the Bay Area have either great soup or great noodles but not both. Yamadaya is the restaurant that is the exception to prove the rule. A simple Japanese style menu with a handful of options and multiple additions focuses on high quality but simple comfort food fare. Yamadaya has become our "go to" ramen restaurant and we've eaten repeatedly since finding it. Given our Japantown location this is a real sign - with all the choice of noodle restaurants this is where we choose repeatedly.

The secret to the gooey thick soup is printed on the wall - masses of pork bones are boiled down for their collagen for 20 hours to produce delicious fatty goodness. 

The decor is simple with wooden booths and shared tables very reminiscent of Osaka hole in the wall eateries. 

Yona Yona Ale $9USD

Yamadaya features a range of imported and craft beers on tap and in bottles / cans. Standard fare like Sapporo and Kirin are available but also this Yona Yona Ale, Ebisu, Koshihikari Eichigo and more. The beers are rotated on a regular basis so look for something new each time. Be careful to watch the price tag of the beers since rarer options like this beer are hefty in price. Mass imports like Sapporo are much more affordable. 

Torii karaage $6.95USD

Appetizers like this fried chicken dish are cheap and good quality. Good quality meat is used, the oil is fresh and the dishes come out piping hot. Healthier fare like Miso Soup ($2USD) and Edamame ($2.95USD) are also available and all go great with a beer. 

Teishoku add on set - curry rice and salad $3.95USD

Order your ramen as a teishoku (meal set) and you can have a choice of small salad or rice and a small serving of a main dish like dumplings, curry, spicy tuna or karaage. 

Tonkotsu ramen $9.25USD

The 'standard' tonkotsu ramen at Yamadaya comes with half an egg, a slice of chashu roast pork and vegetables. Tokyo style soy tonkotsu and kotteri style with garlic oil can also be ordered as variants. 

All the tonkotsu dishes come with thin style Japanese wheat noodles common in tonkotsu. If you're looking for thick noodles similar to what you would get in a miso ramen order "thick type noodles" for an extra 50c. The money is worth it the thick noodles are chewy and delicious, just the right level of al dente. 

Cheese ramen $12.95USD

Plain tonkotsu broth and noodles are served with a mountain of shaved fresh parmesan cheese that melts into a gooey mess with the pork fat. I recommend adding a fizzy drink and some vegetables to cut through all that fat. Great as a comforting but slightly bland meal for the sick.

Spicy Tonkotsu $9.75USD

This is my go to meal when eating noodles and really hard to get past how excellent it is. Spicy tonkotsu (level 3 hot hot hot!) is served with a fermented chili miso paste, eggs and pork. 

I always add the thick noodles and if you're extra hungry add the Yamadaya Special to any dish with both chashu and kakuni (belly) pork, extra egg, seaweed and bamboo shoots. My only wish is that they would do this dish as a tsukemen (dipping noodles) since their only tsukemen has fish based broth which I think negates the point of going to a tonkotsu specialist.

Unlike many Japanese restaurants there is also a vegan and vegetarian option made with salt or soy milk. Bento boxes and donburi rice dishes are also available and suitable for children but I always recommend eating the house specialty so go for the noodles. 

Service is as you might expect in a high turn over Japanese restaurant, fast efficient service but minimal on English and niceties. The restaurant is wildly popular on Friday / Saturday nights and during Japantown / Filmore Street festivals, I recommend eating early (~5pm) to avoid waiting. Highly recommended, definitely our choice of the Japantown eateries. 

Ramen Yamadaya

http://www.ramen-yamadaya.com/

1728 Buchanan St
San Francisco, CA 94115

Casual noodle eatery and tonkotsu ramen specialty restaurant

Recipe: Hiyashi Chuka (Cold sesame ramen salad)

It's mid Summer here in San Francisco and the heat is turning everyone to cool salad dishes. One of my Seasonal favourites is this cold salad ramen dish. You can top it with just about any leftovers or vegetables you have in the fridge!

Hiyashi Chuka (Cold sesame ramen salad)

Noodle salad:

1 pack of fresh ramen noodles 

1 boiled egg

1/4 cup diced ham or chicken

1/4 cup julienne carrot

1/4 cup julienne cucumber

1/4 cup sweet corn

2 tbspn benishoga pickled red ginger

Dressing:

3 tbspn Japanese rice vinegar 

2 tbspn soy sauce 

2 tbspn sugar 

2 tspn sesame oil

Method

• Buy good quality fresh wheat ramen noodles at your local Asian supermarket like Sun noodles "instant ramen" style noodles will not do this justice
• Follow the instructions on the noodle packet - generally boiling in water for 2 mins until al dente is enough
• Pour your noodles into a strainer and rinse with cold water, this cools the noodles as well as removing the starch.

• You can prepare the noodles early and cool in the fridge but if you do this you should sprinkle with a half tbspn of sesame oil and then shake the oil through the noodles so they do not stick together. 
• In a small jar mix the dressing ingredients - vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. If you cannot find rice vinegar white vinegar  will work as a substitute

• Dice your salad vegetables and cold meat and slice your egg
• You can use whatever you have in the fridge - cold meat, vegetables and pickles. This combination of egg, meat, cucumber, corn, carrot and Japanese pickled ginger (benishoga) & eggplant (shibazuke) are classic.
• For a vegetarian / vegan adaptation omit the meat and egg and replace with firm silken tofu and more veges. 
• Lay the noodles into a shallow bowl and then arrange the salad ingredients on top - using contrasting colours adds to the effect
• Serve the dressing on the side so that the diners can add at the last minute - this ensures the noodles stay chewy and the salad ingredients crisp and fresh
• Serve with your favourite sushi and a cold drink!