Vegan Shoyu Ramen
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 minutes mins
Cook Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr 35 minutes mins
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: Asian, Japanese
Keyword: Ramen, Shoyu
Servings: 3
Author: woonheng
- 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
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.
- 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.