Homemade Ramen

I had never had homemade ramen until a few weeks ago.  We had it at our friends’ house and it was the most amazing thing I had ever eaten.  I decided then that I needed to make it at home.

It is so much easier than I ever thought it could be.  Some people assume that it’s hard, but it is SO simple!

These are the ingredients:

• Chicken drumsticks
• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• Rice vinegar
• Sriracha
• Turmeric
• Fish sauce
• Garlic cloves (4)
• Jalapeno (1)
• Carrots (julienned, about a handful)
• Nori sheet in strips
• Mushrooms
• Purple onion (diced)
• Fresh ginger (diced)
• Cucumber or regular kimchi
• Ramen noodles (just the kind from the cheap package or you can buy some Asian noodles from the Asian food aisle)
• Medium boiled eggs (I’ll explain how to do that in the instant pot below)

I’d love to say I measured, but I didn’t measure anything.  So I’m going to do my best to explain here.  Also, some things will just depend on how much your family likes certain foods.

Here we go.

First, I make the broth and cook the chicken.  Place the chicken in a large stock pot and cover with water just about 3 inches below the top of the pot.

To the pot I add soy sauce (about 1/3 cup), rice vinegar (about 1/4 cup), a few splashes of fish sauce, 1/2 turmeric, a squirt of Sriracha, 1/4 yellow onion, 1/2 of a Nori sheet sliced into strips, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1 whole and de-seeded (diced) jalapeño, some shakes of the sesame oil (I LOVE this oil so much), and some salt to taste.

I bring this to a boil and let it simmer for a couple of hours.

While this is simmering my husband and I work on some toppings for us to choose from.

Here’s how I make the eggs:

We make sure to use store bought because my dad’s fresh eggs don’t peel well.

1. Place the eggs on the rack that comes with the instant pot.
2. Pout 1 1/2 cups of water on the bottom.
3. Tighten lid and cook for 3 minutes.
4. NPR for only 3 minutes.
5. Immediately take them out and place them in cold water.  I add a bit of ice but not too much.
6. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel them.

And there you go!  Super easy!  And they peel well and slice perfectly.

Next we strain the broth and take the meat off the bone.

The broth goes over the noodles in the bowl.  We break the noodles up a bit so that they broth can touch it all.

Let the broth cook the noodles.  It takes at least 5 minutes.

During this time, we add the toppings of our choice.

I have to admit that I got this idea from our friends and copied it very closely.  They had more options for toppings; I just chose the ones that our family loved the most.

Everyone loves this because they can choose what is on theirs!