Our mission with this recipe was to make an easy pork belly ramen that didn't skimp on flavour and we can honestly say, we think we nailed it! The pork belly is firstly braised in a savoury marinade, with the rich juices adding the depth of flavour to the basic stock. The pork belly is then seared until crispy and tender and is served alongside Asian greens and a gooey egg.
Ingredients
Pork
1.5kg Pork belly
¼ C light soy
¼ C mirin
½ C sake or Chinese cooking wine
2 tsp caster sugar
Broth
2L chicken stock
3 rashers, streaky bacon
4 spring onions, white only
3cm ginger, cut into quarters
4 garlic cloves, bruised
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
Ramen
2 tbsp red miso paste
Cooked ramen noodles
4 soy eggs
Blanched Asian greens of your choice
Green part of spring onions
White pepper to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius.
Place the pork belly in a tray that fits it snuggly. Season with salt and white pepper.
Combine the soy, mirin, sake and sugar in a jug and pour around the pork.
Cover the tray with foil and cook in the preheated oven for around 2 hours or until the pork is tender.
Pour the juices from the pork into a jug and place the pork into the fridge.
While the pork is cooking, start on the broth. Add the stock, streaky bacon, garlic, spring onion, ginger and mushroom into a large stock pot.
Bring to a boil then simmer for 1 hour and strain.
In a small saucepan, add the miso paste, along with 2 tbsp water and cook on low heat until the miso has dissolved. This mix is called the tare and will add a huge amount of flavour and umami to the broth.
Add the pork juices into the pan and heat through.
Remove any bones from the pork belly and slice the pork into 1cm thick slices.
In a hot pan, sear the pork on both sides and season with salt and pepper.
To assemble the ramen, add 1 ladle of the tare and 2 ladles of broth. It should be savoury with a good amount of seasoning.
Next add in the noodles, asian greens, grilled pork and the egg.
