Fancy Vegetarian Ramen

Being a meat eater myself, I decided to take this as a challenge to create a vegetarian style ramen dish. I normally make this ramen with chicken broth and add garnishes like hard-boiled eggs and roasted pork. The dish is a family favorite, so I was a bit skeptical to try it "meatless". Man, was I pleasantly surprised! What I got was an extremely flavorful, high energy ramen that really didn't make me miss the meat that much. I also wasn't very hungry for the rest of the day, which once again surprised me.

What I like about ramen (or at least the way I make it) is that it's pretty nutritionally sound. It has protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates (the noodles), giving you a very physically satisfying meal. So despite the lack of animal protein, I wanted to make sure my vegetarian version still had a good deal of substance. Hence, the inclusion of dark leafy greens and mushrooms.

Overall this dish is very easy to make. I'd say the hardest part is taking the time to cut up all the veggies! It's nothing like traditional Japanese ramen, but it certainly is delicious.

Hope you enjoy!

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 18 mins

Serves 2

2-3 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp of fresh ginger, minced

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 shallot, sliced into bite sized pieces

5-6 radishes, cut bite sized

1 leek, cut into medallions

4 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cups low- sodium vegetable broth

1/4 cup Shoyu (soy sauce)

Splash of Sake (less than 1/8 cup)

1 tbsp granulated garlic

1 tbsp onion powder

3/4 tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp chopped dried chives

Salt and pepper to taste

Ramen Noodles of your choice (I prefer fresh or dried from a Japanese market I shop at, but if you're going to use instant package noodles, just be sure not to use the seasoning pack)

For the garnishes:

1/4 cup green onions, sliced small

1 cup shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced bite sized.

1/2 cup baby spinach or other dark leafy green

*Note for the "radish rose": take the largest radish in your bunch and use a vegetable peeler to carefully remove the outer red skin in a circular motion, creating a thin winding spiral. Chop up the left over radish for the broth and set the peel aside. When adding the garnishes, arrange the peel in a spiral with the thinnest edge in the middle and the thickest edge on the outer portion, creating a rose petal look. If the center looks too empty (like mine did) use one of the green onion slices (a white-ish one, not green) and put it in the center of your radish rose. This may seem a bit over-the-top for a garnish, but it's called "fancy" vegetarian ramen for a reason. Treat yourself to some luxury for once, come on!

In a pot on medium low, heat sesame oil until just simmering. Add in minced garlic, and saute until fragrant, about 1 min, turning up the heat slightly if necessary. Then add the minced ginger and cook for another 30 seconds or so.

After the garlic and ginger are fragrant (you should be able to distinctly smell both along with the sesame oil), add in the radishes, shallots, leeks, and green onion pieces to the pot and toss to get some of the oil/garlic/ginger mixture on them. Then once again, cook until the vegetables are fragrant, about 2-3 min, stirring occasionally.

Once the vegetables are fragrant and have browned a bit, add in the vegetable broth, shoyu (soy sauce), and sake. Then add all the dry spices (granulated garlic, onion powder, ground ginger, dried chives) and add salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: Packaged vegetable broth can be a bit salty, so make sure to not over-do it with the salt.

Stir to combine, then bring the mixture up to a boil. Let it boil for 30 seconds or so, and then bring the heat down to a simmer (small bubbles). Simmer the vegetables and broth for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the broth has simmered for 12 minutes, bring it back up to a boil and add in the ramen noodles, cooking as long as directed. When using dried noodles (like I do), it takes maybe 2 minutes for the noodles to soften.

Once the noodles are fully cooked, transfer the noodles and broth to your serving bowls, being sure to scoop up some of the cooked veggies in the broth.

Then artfully arrange the garnishes. I like to separate colors, i.e. greens and browns opposite each other. Play with it and make it pretty!

Hope you enjoyed this Instructable recipe! This is my first Instructable submission so let me know how I did!

-Rox