Spicy Vegetarian Miso Ramen

The first step is to place the kombu and dried shiitake in a bowl water and leave them to soak to make your dashi. This will take about 30 minutes. Some people like to soak it longer (even overnight!) for a stronger flavor, and if you have time then by all means do, but 30 minutes is enough for you to make a delicious dashi for your broth.

While the dashi ingredients are soaking, this gives you 30 minutes to prepare your other ingredients!

Preheat your oven to 200°C (392°F).

While it’s preheating, wrap the tofu with kitchen paper and place it on a microwavable plate. Microwave for 1 ½ minutes at 600W. This is a shortcut method to evaporate the excess moisture in the tofu, so you won’t need to press it! I like this method because the tofu doesn’t become squashed or misshapen.

Once you’ve microwaved it, leave it to cool for a few minutes and then cut it into cubes.

Cut the kabocha into thin slices and the zucchini into thick diagonal slices. I find that one medium-sized zucchini makes 4 slices, and I usually put two pieces in each portion. It’s important to cut the zucchini thick because it’s a very watery vegetable that tends to shrink when cooked.

Place the tofu, kabocha, and zucchini on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Use a pastry brush to brush them with olive oil on both sides. This will ensure they’re all coated evenly without being too oily. Lastly, sprinkle both sides generously with salt and pepper.

Once your oven is heated, place the baking tray in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 20 minutes.

Heat a large frying pan on low and add sesame oil. While it’s heating, thinly slice the garlic cloves.

Once it’s hot, add the garlic to the pan and fry until crispy. It’s important to maintain a low heat here so that the oil and garlic don’t burn. Not only are we making garlic chips to sprinkle over the finished dish, but we’re also flavoring the oil for cooking.

Once the garlic is crispy and brown, scoop them out with a mesh spoon and place them on kitchen paper to dry them and absorb the excess oil.

In the same pan, add sliced chili, finely diced ginger, finely diced spring onion (white part), thinly sliced white onion, salt, soy sauce and tobanjan. Increase the heat to medium and fry until the onion is softened.

Once the onion is soft, add ground sesame seeds and mix thoroughly.

Turn off the heat until the kombu and shiitake dashi is ready.

Once your dashi ingredients have been soaked for 30 minutes, pour all the contents of the bowl into the pan and heat on low.

Warm it through for about 5 minutes but be careful not to let it boil.

Remove the kombu and shiitake mushrooms and discard. Scoop a few tablespoons of the broth from the pan and pour it into a small bowl. Add miso paste and smooth peanut butter to the bowl and whisk until it becomes a smooth thin paste.

It’s important that the consistency is thin so that it easily incorporates into the broth. If it’s too thick, you will end up with random chunks of miso paste or peanut butter in your soup, so feel free to add more broth before adding it if necessary.

Pour the contents of the bowl into the pan and mix well.

Finally, add the soy milk and continue to heat until it’s warmed through. Again, don’t let it boil. To prevent the soy milk from curdling, warm it up over a low heat to about 60-65°C (140-150°F). Once it’s hot, turn off the heat (don’t leave it to simmer). Reheat right before serving if necessary.

Cook your ramen noodles according to the instructions on the packaging. It’s important to use a large pot of water so that the noodles have plenty of space to move around as they cook. This will help prevent them from becoming sticky and starchy.

Make sure the water is brought to a rolling boil before adding the noodles, and cook over high heat for the time stated on the packaging.

Place the cooked noodles in the bowl.

Add the soup.

Arrange the baked kabocha, zucchini and tofu on top.

Garnish with thinly sliced wood ear mushroom, chopped spring onion, nori, and crispy garlic chips.

Drizzle with chili oil and enjoy!