Easy miso ramen recipe with roast chicken and mushrooms

I’ve been craving fresh tasting Asian broth with ramen for a while and wanted to figure out a recipe that I could quickly whip up at any given moment. The base of this one has dashi and miso, which pack the umami punch, and I used a homemade chicken stock from my freezer that is liquid gold. Chicken stock is actually not the best stock to use for this broth as its fairly strong, but I was adding roast chicken to the dish so went with it anyway. Just make sure your stock is quite mild or alternatively use a nice gentle vegetable stock. Chopped up exotic mushrooms and baby spinach were my additional fillings but really you can add anything that you like.

I’ve made this a super easy recipe using a few convenience products like dashi powder, miso paste and rotisserie chicken because we don’t always have time to make everything from scratch. On the chicken front, I regularly buy a cooked bird and nibble on it over the week in sandwiches or add it to easy supper dishes.

Dashi is actually very easy to make and you can check out how to do it in this recipe, you just need a good piece of kombu (dried seaweed) and bonito flakes and you are good to go. Dashi powder, which should be easily available at your local Asian supermarket, is a fantastic alternative. As for miso paste, well I’m totally in love with this ingredient and use it in a plethora of dishes including in my best ever ginger and miso ice cream (it’s also vegan). I even squeeze a dollop into Bolognese to ratchet up the umami levels because can you really ever get enough umami anyway?

I added sliced ginger and added star anise to the broth to give it another depth of seasoning and allowed these to simmer gently in the broth to impart their flavour.

The eggs cook to soft in 7 minutes (5 if you want them runny) and the noodles another 3, so this dish can be assembled in under half an hour if you have all the bits on hand.

For a garnish, it needs some heat so I drizzled over an Asian chilli oil and togarashi spice powder (Japanese 7 spice blend). I added more soy for saltiness and sprinkled sliced spring onions for freshness. You can add toasted sesame seeds, crispy fried shallots or anything else you fancy. This is a good dish to play around and adapt it to your own preference.

Use mushroom or vegetable stock to keep it vegetarian and vegan and omit the dashi and chicken.

Recipe – makes 2 substantial portions or 4 smaller portions

Ramen + broth

2 free-range eggs
150gms dried egg noodles (or your favourite noodle)
1 litre very light chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 tsp dashi powder
2 Tbsp miso paste
2 tsp soy
2 star anise
4 – 5 slices of fresh ginger

Fillings:

Shredded roast chicken (or any other cooked chicken)
Baby spinach leaves
Exotic mushrooms such as enoki, shiitake

Garnish:

Chilli oil
Togarashi spice
Chilli
Spring onion, chopped
Soy
Toasted sesame seeds

Bring a pot of water to the boil and drop your eggs in to cook for 7 minutes (medium soft) or 10 minutes for hard. Scoop out and drop in a bowl of cold water to suspend the cooking process.

In the same water, add the noodles and cook for 3 minutes or according to the packet instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

In a medium pot over a low heat bring the stock, dashi powder, miso paste, soy, ginger and star anise to the boil and allow to simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Remove the star anise and ginger about 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time, and drop a generous handful of sliced mushrooms into the broth.

When you are ready to serve, dish up a small handful of noodles into each bowl. Peel and slice the eggs in half adding one or two halves to the bowl. Add a few spinach leaves and shredded roast chicken. Fill each bowl with the miso broth and mushrooms and then sprinkle over the garnishes of your choice to finish off the seasoning of the dish.

A few other easy Asian flavoured recipes:

Salmon poke

Oriental noodle salad with prawns, sugar snaps, ginger & soy

Easy Asian dressing and slaw

Vietnamese summer vegetable rolls