A few months ago, Erin showed you the wonders of homemade Ramen. Her recipe is traditional and beautiful, and I highly suggest you read over it before we get to this vegan iteration I came up with.
Traditional Ramen has a lot of non-vegan elements to it (bone broth, some toppings, eggs too!), so I decided that I was going to give my newly vegan self a little challenge and base a Ramen variation off of Erin’s traditional recipe. Again, if you want the real secrets of Ramen, read Erin’s post! But if you’re vegan and would like a really nice substitute, I’ve got you covered.
INGREDIENTS
- two large shitake mushrooms
- veggie bullion or broth, or (my personal favorite) Vegetable Better Than Bullion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- one whole yellow onion
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/4 cup of mirin
- 1/2 cup of Bragg’s liquid amino
- 3 tablespoons of miso paste
- several packets of store-bought Ramen noodles (I personally like the brown rice/millet ones!)
- your choice of toppings (I did miso-ginger roasted baby carrots, sunflower seeds, chopped cashews, and vegan chicken)
THE PROCESS
Thinly slice your onion. Put your olive oil in a large sauce pan, and add the onion. Cook low and slow for about 45 minutes until the onions are caramelized.
While you’re caramelizing your onion, thinly slice your mushrooms and mince your garlic. Add about two quarts of veggie broth (or water with veggie bullion) to a large pot. Add the mushrooms, garlic, mirin, liquid amino, and miso paste. Bring to a boil. I suggest boiling it the whole time it takes to caramelize your onions. Taste as you go, adding more of the elements as you see fit. (Remember, savory cooking is all about taste, not precision, so you’re the expert on what you want in terms of how much or little of the tare.)
While you’re caramelizing and boiling, get a little miso paste, a touch of water, and some ginger powder. Whisk together. Put your baby carrots on a baking sheet and cover them in it. Roast at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Heat up your vegan chicken patty.
When your onions are caramelized, add them to the broth and continue cooking for about 10 – 15 minutes. A serious, deeply flavored Ramen broth can take hours, but here’s the slight cheat we’re using: after you add your onions and simmer the flavor into the broth, we’re going to strain the broth into a large bowl. See all those solids left over? Put them and about a cup of broth into your blender and process. Add back to the broth. This gives you a flavor-punch, and makes your broth creamy. This is probably not traditional, but I guarantee you it’s delicious!
Boil your noodles in a separate pot of water for about 3 minutes. Take out of water, place in a bowl. Cover in broth and then add your toppings. Note! These toppings were just what I had on hand that were vegan, but if you want to go all-out, again, check out Erin’s post on Ramen!
That’s it, my dears! A vegan iteration of your Ramen noodles that you will not be disappointed by!
apocalycious 