Spicy Mushroom Miso Ramen

Photo and Recipe from Mushroom Info

Yay we are finally current with our recipes ya’ll!! Wahoo. Tonight we had soup/ramen since it was 85 degrees out and Logan would have to sit outside and eat it by the pool. Makes sense, right? Oh well, here it is…

Spicy Mushroom Miso Ramen

• 8 small dried shiitake mushrooms
• 8 square inches dried kombu (optional)
• 4 ½ cups water
• 4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 6 – 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon crushed red chili flakes (to suit your tastes)
• 1 ½ tablespoons shiro miso (white miso paste)
• 1 ½ tablespoons aka miso (red miso paste)
• 10 ounces dried ramen noodles (aka, chukka soba), freshly cooked
• Fresh cilantro leaves, to garnish

1. Make the mushroom stock: Place the dried shiitake mushrooms and kombu a pot with the water.  Bring the water almost to a boil and then turn down the heat to maintain a simmer.  Cook for 5 minutes.

2. Remove the pot from the heat and let the stock stand for 3 minutes. 

3. Make the soup: Heat 3 teaspoons of the toasted sesame oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat.  Add the sliced cremini mushrooms and cook for about 20 seconds.  Drizzle in the remaining 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, then add the finely chopped garlic and crushed red chili flakes, and stir-fry for another 20 seconds.

4. Pour the mushroom stock through a fine-mesh strainer held directly over the pan.  (Discard the solids left in the strainer.)  Adjust the heat to maintain a steady simmer, and separate the cooked noodles into 3 or 4 bowls.

5. Place the shiro miso and aka miso in a small bowl and ladle some of the hot stock from the pan into the bowl. Whisk the miso pastes and broth together until smooth, then add to the simmering stock in the pan.

6. Turn off the heat, then ladle the broth over the noodles in each bowl.  Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and serve immediately.

I’ve been lucky lately everything I have been making has been goooooood. This was no different. I think most would have to add some salt since we salt the heck out of everything in this country but it was definitely edible without. Some changes I’d make would be to add 2-3 times the amount of cremini mushrooms and to use regular sesame oil (not toasted), you can definitely taste the toasted sesame-ness in the recipe which I don’t like at all. We went without the dried kombu because it took Whole Foods twenty minutes to figure out where they had hidden their damn miso and figured kombu was a lost cause at that point.

 I would also like to note that this soup is NOT spicy. I threw in more than a tablespoon of flakes and it got us nowhere. Now that being said if you don’t eat it all (and man o man does it make a LOT) I am sure the following day the spice will be there as it’s had time to soak into the broth. So you have been fair warned. This is also a super quick meal which of course makes any person happy. It’s also super cheap if you have miso already and if not it’s probably around 5-7 dollars for a jar of miso. Beside soup miso can be good in BBQ sauces, surprise surprise!

Speaking of BBQ, I feel like I should make something rather American tomorrow since I’ve been giving Logan all this Asian style food. He’s going to start thinking he knows something about Asia if I keep this up :)

Would I Make it Again: Yes
Noming Score: 3.0/5