Today, Claire and I made ramen. More accurately, we made something like ramen. Having never made ramen before, we realize that what we made was pretty rudimentary and probably not anything really like what the Japanese call ramen, but it turned out pretty well anyway. One challenge, here, is that most ramen recipes I could find involve pork of some kind. Since I don’t eat pork, this recipe is based on chicken. Note that the various stages of this recipe will overlap.

broth

• chicken bones
• ginger
• chinese cabbage
• bok choy
• green onions
• chinese broccoli
• onion
• garlic
• water
• salt

Quantities aren’t all that important, just don’t overdo it on the salt. Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer for at least two hours. Strain out broth and return to pot.

base

• 2 T sesame oil
• dark-fried onion
• minced garlic
• 1/4 c miso paste
• 2 T soy sauce
• dried red chili peppers

Fry onion and garlic in sesame oil until onion is a dark brown colour. This should be done slowly so as not to burn the onion. Add remaining ingredients and cook slowly for a few minutes. Then combine base and soup stock and bring to a boil. As far as timing is concerned, everything else should be ready once the finished soup is boiling.

toppings

• chinese broccoli
• celery
• sprouts
• shiitake mushrooms
• green onions
• hard-boiled egg
• baked oriental chicken

The chicken can be prepared while the stock is simmering. In a small casserole, mix 1/3 cup soya sauce with 1 1/2 T honey and 1 T sesame oil. Marinate the chicken in this mixture for at least an hour, turning occasionally. Bake at 325°F until chicken is cooked through. Slice chicken and keep warm—timing this thing is a nightmare!

The eggs can be boiled while everything else is going on, and can then be cooled to room temperature. The other toppings will be added fresh. I quartered the chinese broccoli and sliced the celery in longish spears.

putting it all together

Depending on what noodles are used, they may need to be prepared in advance too. We were too lazy to make noodles from scratch, and decided to use some fresh chow mein noodles we found at Wingli Farm market (see pictures, below). Once the soup was boiling, we served out our desired quantities of noodles into bowls. The bowls should be heated in the oven to prevent the ramen from cooling too quickly.

We then ladled our desired portions of soup over the noodles and added the toppings. Wait about two minutes to allow noodles to cook, and eat. Itadikimasu!

photos

Because of the huge number of photos I’m about to show you, I’ve used a smaller size than I’d normally like. If you’d care for a better look, I’ve created an Adventu-ramen flickr set which also includes a few photos not shown here, believe it!

sakura fashion zone

Our adventure began with a bit of a side trip. Despite this store’s exciting name, we didn’t find much inside to excite Claire. I was blown away by the huge number of crazy multi-coloured running shoes, but since I knew we weren’t buying, I didn’t take pictures.

three from Wingli Farm

Wingli Farm was the first of three grocery stores Claire and I visited while shopping for this meal.

I’m not sure chow mein counts as ramen, and I realize the noodles are in fact what makes ramen ramen, but chow mein are a basic egg noodle, so I figured close enough for a first effort.

We also bought sencha: Japanese green tea. The package says “Keep in a cool and dark place and be careful of the lingering scent.” Not exactly the product poetry I was hoping for, but the tea was loverly.

four from International Market

International Market is up the street from Wingli Farm. Windsor’s diversity has always impressed me. Here, Claire waits patiently while I dick around with the camera.

Bowls!

Chinese greens: we only bought the chinese broccoli.

I was starting to fret a little for the entire project, but at last we found miso paste hiding in a cooler.

and two from Zehrs

I took this one from my car in the parking lot. Can’t say Zehrs is particularly exciting.

Here’s our stuff at the check out counter. Some of this did end up in the ramen.

food prep

Frozen chicken bones in a stock pot: they probably should have been cleaner. Pretty much all the pictures of food prep were taken by Claire.

This is me, chopping chinese cabbage. I only used about half the head: it has a nifty flavour fresh, so I saved some to go in a salad later this week.

Two more vegetables eager to meet their doom.

The chicken bones are buried under vegetable ingredients, and it’s time to cover with water.

Making the marinade for the chicken, very yummy. I accidentally had to lick some off my fingers.

Boiling eggs: this dish has so many elements!

These next four all show the soup base in various stages. First the onions frying.

Then the onions, garlic, and pepper fried to perfection.

Here I am, adding the miso paste.

And finally the soy sauce.

The chicken was baked for about half an hour, I kind of lost track. How artful that you can see the soup base and the stock chugging away in the background.

The toppings are ready and it’s time to finish the soup.

My hand is a blur as my mad ninja skillz stir the soup base into the stock.

I heated the bowls in the oven, and then started building the dish. Here’s most of the ingredients waiting for the soup.

And here’s the finished ramen on the stove. . .

. . . and on the table. I love that this piece of broccoli was in flower. The shiitake mushrooms are also just beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, the arrangement of this bowl was a little haphazard. The image at top, taken by Claire (but cropped by me) shows a much better finish.

Did we like it? See for yourself.

This was Claire’s first ever use of chopsticks. She did quite well.

In all the excitement, we almost forgot to make tea.

I read on worldramen.net than “Eating ramen is unresistable craving.” They also say that “Cooking Ramen is the state of art. It is NEVER easy enough to be mastered without years-long practical training.” And you know, I believe it. There’s a huge number of variables in terms of how this stuff goes together, and I doubt I could make exactly the same ramen tomorrow that I made today (partially that’s because I never measure). But I have to say, what we ended up with today was really, really, really good. There’s a link to worldramen.net below, as well as some other sources I used for ideas.

sources

Bob & Angie. “Shoyu Ramen.” http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/ref/ramen/ramen.html

BON. “World Ramen.net” http://www.worldramen.net/

Fischer, Matthew. “The Official Ramen Homepage.” http://mattfischer.com/ramen/

Murdey, Richard. “Richard’s Ramen Recipe.” http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/9151/ramen.html

Naruto Fever. “Ramen Recipes.” http://narutofever.com/information/ramen-recipe.php

Recipe Zaar. “Chinese Roasted Chicken Recipe.” http://www.recipezaar.com/135753

“Tsuchigumo,” the Earth-Spider. . . is founded on a curious legend, whose chief merit may be that it affords excuse for a fantastic stage-picture. It seems that a band of robbers, who lived in caves and were known by the nickname of earth-spiders, were routed from their lairs and exterminated by Kintaro, servant of Yoremitsu, whose valour was much enhanced in popular estimation by the flattering rumour that the defeated pests were not men at all, but a race of enormous demon-insects. Accordingly, the climax of “Tsuchigumo” is a stirring encounter between Imperial Guards, armed with swords and spears, and masked monsters, who entangle their weapons and baffle their aim in a cloud of long gauzy filaments, resembling the threads of a spider’s web. (55-56)
[plate faces page 56]

“Kintaro fights the Earth-Spider”

Also of interest:

Joly, Henri L. Legend in Japanese Art. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle, 1967.

TSUCHIGUMO. The invulnerable earth spider which infested the province of Yamato, in the time of Jimmu Tenno. It was proof against steel, and the only way in which it could be killed was devised by Mono-no-Funo-Michi-on-no-Mikoto, who closed the mouth of the cave in which the monster lived, with an iron net, and by means of a huge fire smoked the spider in its den.

A g-search for akamaru ramen recipe brings back scads of stuff from Naruto fan sites, but I was lucky enough to find near the top this review of a Tokyo restaurant called Ippudo. According to the review, akamaru ramen is a “newer recipe”, made with red seasoning oil. My 12-year-old daughter Claire, the anime nut who has the whole family watching Naruto, tells me that “aka” is Japanese for “red”, and “maru” is a suffix that denotes a masculine name. Is this ramen named after Kiba’s puppy? Hard to say, but I’d like to think so.

I was dazzled by Jiraiya. He bewildered my senses with sleight of hand and foot; he soothed my conscience with bold sophistries. For two rin I would have caught up an uncouth pike, assumed outrageous armour, and followed that robber-chief unhesitatingly to glory or to death. Vaguely I could remember being stirred in boyhood by the prowess of Robin Hood, by the fortunes of Aladdin, but here was a magnificent being who rivalled and surpassed both heroes in his own person. Like the outlaw of Sherwood Forest, he defied the powerful and helped the humble; judges and soldiers trembled at his name, which was breathed with blessings by the poor but grateful receivers of stolen goods. When the Government at last put forth its strength to crush him (and here his superiority was incontestable), instead of calling on his men in green to empty their trusty quivers, he had merely to summon his attendant sprite, a green frog, which could be trusted to spout fire until the last representative of futile authority shoud be utterly consumed. I had seen him dancing on the back of an awful dragon, which the frog vanquished before the beast had time to swing its tail; I had seen him dancing defiantly on a mountain covered with snow, while his whirling spear threatened a score of enemies dancing round the base: suddenly the mountain changed to a fire-spitting frog, and the enemies danced no more. Perhaps it was this decorative fashion of dancing in battle which reconciled me to the wholesale slaughter of so many brave men. At the moment I merely felt that they were hostile to Jiraiya and well deserved their doom. Similarly, it seemed no more than the deserts of my loyal enthusiasm when a courteous attendant, bowing to the ground, brought a message to my box to the effect that Jiraiya would be pleased to see me in his dressing-room when the curtain fell. (262-263)

Speaking of Jiraiya, am I the first to notice the resemblance?

Which evil Naruto character are you?

WHAT IS A GOTH?

• Goths aim to be individuals but share a distinctive uniform, common tastes and attitude.
• They are often sullen, dress in black and red with silver or stainless steel and leather adornments and body piercings.
• They carry around a lot of metal on their clothes and bodies. They wear heavy military style boots, fishnet tights or stockings if they are female and distressed clothing.
• Their rooms are dark caves full of the sounds of Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, the Mission, Cradle of Filth, Sisters of Mercy and other guitar bands.
• They rarely speak to adults but their language tends towards estuary although many retain their regional accents.

Good to know those sullen boys I see wearing fishnet aren’t goth. Maybe they’re ninjas!