Vegetable Miso Ramen

Andy and I had a hectic November and December with work, relying on a lot of takeaways during those months. (The joys of working in internet retail!) After 12+ hour days and no time to shop for groceries, the idea of cooking a meal when I got home from work at 8pm was less than appealing.

One of our favourite restaurants that offer takeout food is Wagamama in Clifton, Bristol. In our defence, it is probably one of the healthiest takeaway restaurants around so we are not a lost cause just yet! ;-)

One of my favourite things to order is the Ramen soups. At £10 a pop, it’s pretty expensive bowl of soup, so when I did a bit of research to try and recreate something similar I was surprised to find how easy it was.

This is my very simple attempt at this light, healthy noodle soup. It can be easily customised with toppings to suit your taste or fridge contents.

Vegetable Miso Ramen

This is enough to feed 2 hungry people. You’ll need a large bowls to serve. (Chipped bowls optional!)

• 1000ml vegetable stock (Marigold Instant Bouillon)
• 1 sachet of instant miso paste with sea vegetable (clearspring Miso)
• 2 bundles of Semi-Wholewheat Udon Noodles (clearspring variety, you could use any noodles you like)
• 1 tsp garlic chopped (I used birds eye frozen garlic)
• 2 thin carrots chopped into coins
• 4 spring onions/scallions sliced diagonally
• 1 punnet of shitake mushrooms, halved
• 2 salad radishes, thinly sliced
• 2 small handfuls of raw beansprouts
• bunch of coriander/cilantro, leaves only
• toasted sesame oil or chili oil to garnish
• soy sauce to taste

1. Cook your noodles as per their packaging. Once cooked, drain, run under cold water (this stops the cooking process) and set aside.
2. First fry off the garlic is a large saucepan with a touch of oil on a medium heat making sure the garlic does not take any colour.
3. Next add the vegetable stock, carrots and mushrooms and bring the stock to the boil then turn the heat down low. You don’t want the carrot to cook completely, just enough to take the raw edge off.
4. Squeeze your miso paste into a separate bowl and ladle in some of the hot stock and whisk until the paste is incorporated into the stock.
5. Add your cooked noodles to the stock and heat them through, this will take no time at all and add the chili
6. Next add the miso mix to the soup mixture, stir and remove from the heat. Never let miso boil as it will turn gritty and rather unpleasant.
7. Now divide the soup and noodles between 2 bowls and garnish. I used raw beansprouts, salad radish, spring onions/scallions and coriander/cilantro.
8. Drizzle with a touch of oil, I used toasted sesame but you could use chili oil if you like it spicy.
9. Taste the broth, if you like a bit more salt or depth of flavour add some soy. Be sure to taste the broth first as most instant stocks can be quite salty so the soy may over salt the situation.

Enjoy… :)

Miso will keep for ages if you store in the fridge so don’t be daunted by the large salsa-dip sized jar it comes in. (This time I bought small sachets as they never had any jars of miso at the supermarket.)

We really enjoyed this dish and it looked so pretty! It’s a great way to use up whats left in your fridge. I like to keep miso paste on hand as it has a number of uses and gives that wonderful umami taste.