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–+ servings

Homemade Shoyu Ramen Noodles (Soy Sauce Flavored Chuka Soba)

Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients 
 

Noodles

Soup

  • 1000 ml water soft water is preferred
  • 10 g dried sardines (niboshi) heads and gut sacs removed
  • 5 g dried kelp (kombu) or Korean dashima
  • 4 chicken wings scored along the bone on the skinless side, drumettes or wingettes also work
  • 2 garlic cloves lightly smashed with the flat of a knife
  • 20 g ginger root sliced, not too thin
  • 1 Japanese leek (naganegi) green tops only, or leek green tops
  • 5 g bonito flakes (katsuobushi)

Aroma oil

  • ½ tbsp lard or neutral oil
  • 50 g chicken skin or store-bought chicken oil, duck fat, or goose fat (½ to 1 tbsp per bowl)

Tare

Toppings Suggestions

Instructions 

  • Take a pot and fill with 1000 ml water. Add 10 g dried sardines (niboshi) and 5 g dried kelp (kombu). Gently heat and hold at 60 °C (140 °F) for 30 minutes to make the dashi base. Make the tare while you wait.
    kombu and niboshi in a pot of water to make dashi base for shoyu ramen

Tare

  • Grab a small saucepan and add 1 tbsp sake, 1 tbsp mirin, ½ tsp sugar, and 1 pinch salt. Stir and simmer until the salt and sugar have dissolved, the the alcohol smell has burned off.
    sake, mirin and sugar in a pan to make shoyu ramen tare
  • Pour 3 tbsp water and 3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu) into the pan and simmer on low for 5-10 minutes or until slightly thickened (be careful not to over reduce).
    shoyu ramen tare in a pan on the stove
  • Transfer to a sealable container, then cool and store in the fridge for later. This is your tare, the base flavor for your ramen.
    reduced shoyu ramen tare in a plastic container ready for storage

Broth (part 1)

  • After 30 minutes of gentle heat, remove the kombu and dried sardines from the pot of dashi. Add 4 chicken wings, 2 garlic cloves, 20 g ginger root, and 1 Japanese leek (naganegi). Heat on medium until small bubbles appear (avoid boiling). Skim any scum that appears at the top for the first 10 minutes, then hold at 80 °C (176 °F) to 85 °C (185 °F) for 40 minutes.
    Shoyu ramen broth base with Japanese leek, chicken wings and ginger root visible, simmering in a pot on the stove top

Render Chicken Fat

  • Heat a large frying pan on low and melt ½ tbsp lard. Spread 50 g chicken skin in a single layer.
    chicken skin spread in a single layer in a frying pan on the stove top
  • Cover the top of the skin with foil and a heavy heat-resistant weight (like a smaller pot of water) to flatten it.
    a heavy pot of water weighing down chicken skin topped with foil in a frying pan
  • Fry for about 10 minutes on each side, or until the skin is golden on both sides and the fat has rendered out. Pour the fat into a heatproof bowl, and enjoy the crispy chicken skin as a snack, or save as a topping for another dish.
    crispy chicken skin on a black and white plate next to rendered chicken fat in a glass bowl

Broth (part 2)

  • After 40 minutes, turn off the heat and drop in 5 g bonito flakes (katsuobushi). Steep for 5 minutes.
    broth for shoyu ramen simmering in a pot on the stove top with bonito flakes dropped in
  • Set up a fine-mesh strainer or a chinois lined with a paper towel, and set it over a clean bowl or pot. Remove the bulky ingredients, then pour the broth through.
    strained ramen broth in a sieve lined with kitchen paper to catch small flakes of bonito
  • You should be left with a clear golden broth.
    broth base for shoyu ramen in a steel mixing bowl

Assembly

  • Cook 2 portions ramen noodles about 20 seconds less than the package instructions say.
    boiling ramen noodles in a pot of water on the stove top
  • Warm your serving bowls by filling them with hot water. Pour it out right before the noodles are ready, and divide the tare equally between the bowls.
    shoyu ramen tare in a white ramen bowl with red design on rin
    • If your serving bowls are microwave safe, you can microwave them for 10-20 seconds to warm them instead.
  • Pour the hot broth (approx 300ml) into each bowl and stir to evenly distribute the tare. Make sure not to overfill, as you will be adding noodles and toppings.
    shoyu ramen broth in a white ramen bowl with red design on rim
  • Drain the noodles and gently lower them into the bowl.
    shoyu ramen in a white ramen bowl with red design on rim
  • Drizzle the rendered chicken fat over the top and add your favorite toppings. I opt for pork chashu, ramen egg, seasoned bamboo shoots (menma), narutomaki fish cake, roasted seaweed for sushi (nori), and finely chopped green onions. Enjoy!
    Yuto Omura holding up a bowl of homemade shoyu ramen topped with chopped green onions, menma, ramen eggs, narutoamaki fishcakes, nori, and homemade chashu served in a red and white ramen bowl

Notes

Build the tare early. When shoyu tare rests overnight in the fridge, the salt edge softens and the sake and mirin esters round out, turning sharp into deep.
The aroma oil is the bowl. Drizzle the rendered chicken oil on at the very end. It floats on the surface and does 3 jobs at once: insulates the soup, carries aroma up to your nose, and gives the first sip its richness.
Hold a sub-boil all the way through. Kombu sits at 60°C, chicken simmers at 80 to 85°C, katsuobushi steeps off the heat. A rolling boil at any stage clouds the broth and drives off the aromatics.
Warm the bowls before pouring. Pouring 90°C broth into a cold ceramic bowl drops the soup by 10 to 15°C on the spot. Pour boiling water in, let it sit 1 to 2 minutes, then pour out. That little move is what separates ramen-shop bowls from home bowls.
Pull the noodles early, drain hard. Cook the noodles in at least 10 times their volume of water, then pull them 10 to 20 seconds before the package time. Carryover heat from the broth finishes them off in the bowl. Drain hard so no water clings and dilutes the soup.
NOTE: The nutritional value is based on when you drink up the soup (we rarely drink up the soup when it comes to ramen)