This vegan shoyu ramen is what you need for a cold day! It has a silky homemade broth and flavorful tare. The best thing about this recipe is that you can prepare these two ingredients ahead of time. Simply add tare and broth in a bowl and add the cooked ramen along with your favorite toppings for a slurpilicious bowl of deliciousness.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time1 hr 15 mins
Total Time1 hr 35 mins
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: Asian, Japanese
Keyword: Ramen, Shoyu
Servings: 3
Ingredients
- 4 oz of firm tofu pressed
- 3-4 servings of ramen noodles used fresh ramen
- Menma seasoned bamboo shoots
- A handful of chopped scallions
- cooking oil
Broth
- 4 slices of ginger
- 10 dried Shiitake mushrooms cleaned
- 1 cup raw cashew – washed
- 3 leeks chopped
- 1.5 lbs daikon radish – chopped in bite-size cubes
- 2 small garlic bulbs cut in half
- 1 oz kombu
- 20 cups of water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon mushrooms seasoning
Tare
- 1 cup of light soy sauce
- ½ cup of dark soy sauce
- ⅓ cup sake
- ⅓ cup mirin
- 2-3 stalks scallion white part only
- 2-3 garlic cloves mashed
- 3 slices of ginger
Instructions
Prepare the Broth
- Sauté ginger and mushrooms with a tablespoon of oil in a large stockpot until aromatic. Then, continue to stir-fry cashews, leek, and daikon radish for a few minutes. Add the water, turn the heat to high. Immerse the garlic bulb and kombu in the water, then add the salt.
- Cover the pot with a lid and bring it to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes. Remove kombu right after it comes to a boil for a less murky broth. Season with mushrooms seasoning.
Prepare the Tare and Tofu
- Place all tare ingredients in a small saucepan, then bring it to a rolling boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 -15 minutes, uncovered until it reduces to almost half. Set it aside, I prefer to let the aromatics steep in the tare for as long as I could to extract the maximum flavor. If not used immediately, store it in a jar once it’s cooled down for future use (but strain out the aromatics).
- To prepare the tofu, cut it into 4 blocks and place them on a shallow plate. Ladle a scoop (about 2 tablespoons) of tare over and marinate for at least 15 minutes (turning occasionally so all tofu sides are well-coated).
- Next, heat a non-stick pan with a drizzle of oil. Pan-fry the tofu until golden brown over medium-low heat, until a thin crust forms, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Let it cool completely before slicing it.
How to serve
- Now, strain the broth into another pot and pick out the mushrooms and kelp (if not removed earlier) and reserve for another dish. Keep the broth warm over low heat.
- Bring a pot of water to boil, then blanch mung bean sprouts for a few seconds. Use the same pot to cook the ramen noodles as directed on the package.
- To serve, add 2 tablespoons (adjust this based on your taste) of tare in a bowl, and ladle the broth over. Add the noodles, and top with mung bean sprouts, menma, chopped scallions and tofu cha shu. Serve warm.
Notes
- Use jicama to substitute daikon radish if preferred
- Remove kelp from the broth right after it comes to a boil to get a clearer soup
- Feel free to use regular soy sauce and skip light and dark soy sauce. Please adjust the saltiness accordingly.
- Tare and broth can be made ahead of time and store for future use. Please store once they are cooled.
- Replace sake with vegetable broth or water if you can’t have alcohol.
- I’m using fresh ramen which takes less than 3 minutes to cook.