One of my (very few) achievements this year was to make homemade miso paste - at home, from scratch. The process - consisting of mixing cooked soybeans with koji (starter culture, often fermented rice) and salt water - took me exactly 1 year (some varieties of miso require even much longer) which is why it made sense to make a huge batch (miso anyone??).
I LOVE all things fermented (see my recent fermented apples pizza dough or my experiments with homemade tempeh for example). Fermented foods are packed with good bacteria and I’m also really fascinated by the process through which fermentation transforms simple ingredients into something more complex and flavourful.
This is my recipe for a mildly-spicy, vegan ramen. I used my homemade miso in it but you can of course just use any store bought miso and the result will be still amazing.
I also tried a small trick to slightly thicken the broth. Many vegan/vegetarian versions add a little (plant) milk but I instead used a small amount of creamed cauliflower, which I thinned with some veggie stock.
Ingredients
200g ramen noodles
Veggies of your choice: I used broccoli, carrots, mushrooms and tomatoes.
1 spring onion, chopped
For the soup:
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp miso
1/3 cauliflower, cut into florets, steamed and pureed with 1/2 cup of veggie stock
1/3 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp fermented chilli paste (gochujang)
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp white pepper
Salt to taste
4 cups veggie stock
Method
Heat the oil and add the ginger, followed by garlic and onion powder, chilli paste and white pepper. Sauté for a minute.
Add the soy sauce, miso and the broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. Then quickly add the veggie stock and pureed cauliflower. Check salt and add if needed.
Cook the veggies for 3 minutes, then add the noodles and cook according to packaging.
Transfer to a bowl and add sliced tomatoes and spring onions. Serve very hot!
