This recipe is incredibly delicious and takes less than an hour to bring together. It's got everything a good ramen should have - deep flavour umami broth, great noodles and toppings with a variety of textures....it's so good, you will feel like you are eating out.

There is one thing that will transform your ramen to the next level... that's really good quality chicken stock as a base. Whilst I will always preach that our Somerset Foodie Stock powders are the best (because they are!) there is no substitute for home-made stock. If you've roasted a chicken it's a sin not to make some stock from the bones. Instead of using that stock to make a risotto or paella or an everyday soup, use it to make this Ramen recipe and I promise you'll thank me!

When making this recipe, think of it as four elements to make - broth, main filling, noodles and toppings. When I said you can make this in less than an hour, I have assumed that you already have the stock made before you start.

I have borrowed elements of this recipe from Tim Anderson, the MasterChef winner - he uses grated parmesan cheese in the broth which is a genius idea and one that the Italians use for their famous 'tortellini in brodo' dish. The parmesan adds another level of umami to your broth...not classically Japanese, but works so well.

He also uses pork mince as a kind of main filling for the dish, it's a great idea as it adds so much flavour and is really quick and simple to prepare. 

The list of ingredients is long-ish, but not daunting and the net result is amazing.

Ingredients for Simple Pork Ramen
Serves 4
For the broth
1.4Ltrs Home-made chicken stock 
35g Hamadaya Dashi Stock
20g White miso paste
20g Freshly grated Grana Padano

For the Spicy Pork 
400g fatty pork mince 
The green part of a washed and trimmed leek, roughly chopped
1 fresh tomato, quartered
6 cloves of garlic
1 white onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 fresh red chilli, roughly chopped
1 large tablespoon of Gochujang
A thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced roughly
½ tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
½ teaspoon black pepper corns, crushed
½ teaspoon sichuan peppercorns, crushed

For the Toppings
2 eggs, boiled for 6½ minutes, cooled in cold water, peeled and halved
The white part of a washed and trimmed leek
200g bean sprouts
1 spring onion, finely sliced
200g Tender stem broccoli, steamed or fried until tender
Shichimi Togarashi
Crispy chilli oil of your choice - Ping's Shallot & Garlic, LaoGanMa or White Mausu

For the Noodles
4 portions of Sau Tao Ramen Noodles, soaked in boiling water for 2 minutes

1. Start by heating up the stock, adding the dashi and miso and keep warm until needed.

2. For the pork you need to make a quick fire spice paste and it's easiest and quickest way to do this in a small food processor or blender. Add in the green part of the leek, the fresh tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, fresh red chilli, gochujang, sesame seeds, black pepper and sichuan pepper (crushed) and blend everything until you have a coarse paste. Thoroughly mix this into the pork mince and set to one side.

3. Now prepare some of the other garnishes;

• Boil the eggs for 6½ minutes, refresh in cold water, peel and cut in half.
• Steam the broccoli until it's tender
• Finely slice the white part of the leek into long strips, place it in a bowl of ice cold water, the shreds will become nice and crunchy.
• Finely slice the spring onion.
• Place the beansprouts in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, leave for 1 minute, drain and leave to one side.

4. Now heat up a wok until it really hot, add a little cooking oil and fry the pork.  Keep the heat as high as possible for whole duration of the cooking and stir every so often, you want to develop a nice deep brown colour on the meat. It will take around 6-8 minutes.

5. Boil the kettle again and pour boiling water over the ramen noodles, leave for 2 minutes.

6. Once the pork is ready, turn the heat off.

7. Make sure the broth is still nice and hot, grate in some Grana Padano and mix through.

8. It's now time to plate up. Start by dumpling a pile of noodles in each bowl and top with the pork. Ladle over the hot broth and then arrange the garnishes around the bowl; beansprouts, broccoli, egg, spring onions. Finish with a dusting of Shichimi Togarashi, the crisp, shredded leek and a drizzle of your favourite chilli oil.

Enjoy! Foodies, don't forget to tag us @somerset.foodie if you make this at home and leave a review for this recipe if it turns out well! Ben 

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