Luxurious Korean Ramen

Yes, Ramen Noodles are getting a makeover in our household! We are, frankly, noodle freaks, we love noodle dishes, but it also means, our expectation for noodle dishes are quite high. This Korean version deluxe Ramen Noodles certainly put a giant smile on everyone’s face.

Here is how to make this super simple, yet super satisfying Ramen dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast, sliced into bite size slices, marinate chicken well with the marinade mix listed below, set aside for about 10 minutes while preparing the rest of the ingredients
• 1 lb small raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 lb sausages, any kind would work, even hot dogs. I had a package of chicken sausages, so I sliced them at a diagonal for larger surface area, so the flavor blends better into the broth
• 6 cups of broth (if you have any), or good old plain water would do – which is what I did.
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
• about 1/2 inch of fresh ginger, minced. Freeze your ginger! And use a grater to grate it than try to mince fresh ginger, it saves you A LOT of hard work!
• 3 green onions, sliced and save for garnish
• white toasted sesame seeds, white or black, for garnish, totally optional
• 4 packages of Korean style Ramen noodles, any flavor, but I used chicken
• 1/2 small head of cabbage, roughly chopped, you want to be able to find the cabbage leaves after they are cooked, probably one of the best part of the dish in my opinion
• 1 heaping TBSP of Gochujang – Korean chili paste, this will really give you the warmth, in my mind, not very spicy
• 1 heaping TBSP fine Korean chili powder, this will give the vibrant red color. OK, here is my confession, I didn’t find mine, so I left it out. That’s the reason why my noodles turned out more of an orange color than red. Even though the flavor is still amazing, color could be better. But for the sake of this recipe, it is also totally optional
• about 6 pieces of kimchi, roughly chopped – Korean fermented cabbage. This is also key to give the dish signature Korea flavor. It can be spicy, so be sure to taste your kimchi and decide how much you want to put into your pot. 
• 4 eggs

Chicken marinade:

• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP Gochujang
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 TBSP corn starch

Method:

1. put about 2 TBSP vegetable oil or any kind of mild flavored cooking oil into your trusty heavy bottomed soup pot. A dutch oven is my recommendation. Just imagine when the noodles are done, they sit nice and warm in the dutch oven, with the amazing steam elevating from the pot for a while… anyway.. cook your minced garlic and ginger for a minute or until fragrant. Add the Gochujang and Korean chili powder (if using) and let the hot oil toast the spices while moving the paste around, about 1 additional minute.

2. Add marinated chicken slices into the pot, move chicken around to cook for a minute. Don’t worry if chicken isn’t fully cooked, they will be boiled for a while. 

3. Add sausages into the pot, to give it a chance to render any fat and flavor the soup base. Stir fry for about a minute or two. Add broth or water into the pot. Add cabbage. Close the lid, bring the liquid to a rapid boil.

4. Open Ramen packages, add all the flavoring base into the pot, including the sesame packages. Stir the soup to mix well. Add Ramen noodles into the pot, push down a bit to make sure all the noodles are being cooked. Flip noodles as needed. Skim off any foam as needed. Lower the heat to medium low, and let the soup cook for a couple of minutes with the lid on. 

5. Stir the noodles. Once the noodles are al dente (be careful not to over cook at this point), or just softened enough not to be crunchy, push noodles down to form 4 dents on the surface of the noodle layer. Crack one egg into each dent, do not disturb the soup. Lid goes back onto the dutch oven and let it cook for another 2 minutes. This allows the eggs to be gently cooked from the bottom and steamed from the top. And final dish would have perfectly soft poached egg. Or, if you prefer, leave the eggs cook a bit longer so it’s fully cooked in the center. 

6. Lid off, kill the heat. Use a pair of tongs to serve noodles and fixings into a bowl, use a spatula to serve a soft poached egg or hard boiled egg on top of the noodles, and ladle some amazing hot and glossy broth over everything. Top it off with chopped green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

My mouth is watering again, just to go through this cooking process again in my head…Enjoy!