Mushroom Miso Ramen (Vegan)

Micah introduced me to the joys of “real” ramen on one of our first dates when we were living in Los Angeles. It was in that moment that I realized that I didn’t know a damn thing about Asian food and I certainly didn’t know anything about Ramen! I realized that I had been doing ramen wrong this whole time and it was love at first slurp.

This ramen recipe certainly isn’t traditional, but it does have some of the classic elements of a “real” ramen. I made adjustments to keep it vegan, yet satisfying. Feel free to add whatever vegetables and ingredients you have in the fridge. I don’t think I have ever made the same ramen bowl twice. Even though this is a vegan recipe I have includes directions for the 6 minute egg in case you want to make to add it in.

Ingredients:

Lotus Foods Ramen noodles (These are available from Meijer or Costco made from brown rice and millet)

Scallions

Kimchi

Shiitake and Enoki Mushrooms

4 ounces Organic Tofu

Seaweed paper

Chili flakes in oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1.5 table spoons soy sauce

3 Turnips (safe the greens on top!)

Micro greens or Pea tendrils

Salt to taste

Eggs (optional)

Ramen Broth:

4 tablespoons Miso paste

4 garlic cloves (sliced thin)

1 table spoon Fresh ginger (grated or chopped)

4-6 cups Vegetable Broth

In a large soup pot sauté the ginger until fragrant and add the miso and vegetable broth, add garlic cloves and dissolve the miso paste and bring the broth to a boil.

I recommend prepping all the toppings below before adding the ramen to the broth, that way the noodles aren’t sitting around getting too soggy soaking up all the broth.

If you are adding eggs to your ramen, have a pot of boiling water prepared, carefully drop in the desired amount of eggs you need and set the timer for 6 minutes. At six minutes plunge the eggs into ice water, peel and set aside. The ice water is key if you want the peeling of the eggs to be an easy process :)

One of the first steps I recommend is chopping the turnips into small cubes and roasting them in the over with oil, salt and pepper at 425 degrees until tender. It should take about 15 minutes. You can actually save the turnip greens, chop them up and throw in the ramen broth, they add amazing flavor.

Next, thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms and sauté in oil, add salt and pepper, once tender add the enoki and sauté a couple minutes more. Remove from heat.

To prepare the tofu slice into 1/2 inch think slices and pat with paper towels to remove as much water as possible. Salt and pepper both sides. Heat a sauté pan and add a tablespoon or two of oil and add the tofu to the pan. Once browned on both sides add the soy sauce, vinegar and maple syrup. Use a very thin spatula to flip the tofu, it will stick to the pan and fall apart if you are not careful. Baste the tofu with the sauce and allow it to reduce to half its volume. Remove from the heat.

Slice your green onions and seaweed papers, get your kimchi and any additional toppings ready. Taste the broth and salt as necessary.

Once you’re ready drop the ramen noodles into boiling water and cook until al dente.

Get a bowl ready with broth and noddles and add desired toppings that you just prepped as you would like! Like I said I have never made the same bowl twice, it’s ok to keep making a different variation of this each time!