Throughout my time browsing cooking videos on YouTube, there’s one topic that’s

always caught my eye: Japanese cuisine. Sushi, street food… I saw a few videos on a type of
Japanese omelet. The chef uses chopsticks to sort of scramble eggs, then he folds it over into a
sort of circle. The inside remains runny and when served over a bed of rice, the chef cuts the
omelet open. It unfolds in a very satisfying way. I would’ve attempted to make this recipe long
ago but it appeared much too difficult.
What I decided to make instead was a bowl of ramen. Not a cup of instant noodles but
real, authentic ramen. I wasn’t very educated on what that’s supposed to look like so I did some
research. I looked at many recipes and the ingredients that stood out to me were shiitake
mushrooms, carrots, scallions, ginger and garlic. There were also a few wet ingredients: soy
sauce and sriracha.
All the ingredients were pretty basic and easy to find at the grocery store. I picked them
up as well as a few other things went home and got to work.
First I peeled and shaved the carrots. The other vegetables would cook quickly so
shaving the carrots (thus having more surface area than chopping) would have all my
vegetables done at about the same time. Next, the scallions. I chopped the white stalk to throw
in the soup and saved the darker leaves for garnish. The mushrooms I chopped as well. As for
the ginger and garlic, I minced them.
Checking the packages on the ramen, i found that normally they would take 2 cups of
water each and use their flavor packets to turn it into broth. I just substituted the water for
chicken stock and left out the packets. I was cooking for the family so that meant 4 servings, or
8 cups of chicken stock. I added that to the pot and started bringing it to a boil.
While that was going I threw all the vegetables in a pan and started cooking on medium
heat. I just wanted to soften them, they’d be cooked further with the ramen.
Once the stock was at a boil, and the vegetables were softened, I threw all the dry
ingredients into the pot as well as equal parts sriracha and soy sauce as well as some sesame
oil. It took maybe 4 minutes at a boil to be done, but I wasn’t timing. I just ate a noodle from time
to time to see how soft.
I also soft boiled an egg for each bowl of ramen. That part was pretty easy, I found an
article online that documents the exact time it takes for each level of doneness when boiling an
egg. It took 6 minutes and 30 seconds for the consistency I was going for.
I have to say that the broth was the highlight of this dish. I really love ginger and the
ginger had really shown through. The sriracha added just the right amount of heat and the soy
sauce and garlic gave depth to the flavor.
I would definitely make this dish again. It was pretty easy, taking only some chopping
letting everything boil. Next time I think I’ll try using the “egg drop” method, where you drop an
egg into the soup as soon as it’s done cooking and stir. The result is egg pieces throughout and
the yolk mixes with the broth.