I’ve blogged a few ramens before, and I’m not doing much differently here, but I do have some swish new bowls and ramen spoons to show off!

We had a roast chicken over Christmas (not for Christmas day, we had curry then at our excellent local Babur restaurant) and Soph made a stock from it, so I’m using that as a base, along with the usual Japanese stock flavours: miso, bonito flakes, mirin, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, Japanese pepper, fish sauce, and dried seaweed.

I’ll be adding beansprouts plus some mushrooms that look the part, so bulk things out. To finish things off I’ve got pickled red ginger, crispy onion bits, and a special chilli paste, plus I’m boiling up some eggs.

I start by heating the stock up.

Then having gone to the effort to get mushrooms that look the part for ramen, instead of cooking them separately and presenting nicely as a garnish on top… I’m just bunging them in the main stock, as I’m not washing up another bloody pot!

As soon as the noodles have cooked, things are ready to serve up.

And oh yeah! That chicken stock, and the chilli paste – takes it to another level over my normal “use up the fridge veg” Friday ramens!