Discovering the Culture of Japan through a Cooking Class Experience
Our family was able to visit Tokyo Japan for the first time, what better way to experience the local culture than to take a cooking class with a local chef? And what better recipe to learn than my son’s favorite food there – ramen !
For Japanese people, ramen is their comfort food that is both affordable and nourishing to the heart and soul. You will find many types of ramen in Japan, often featuring the local ingredients and flavors in different regions. Every time we make this recipe, it reminds us of our remarkable time in Japan and how we connected with the local people and culture through food, transcending language and borders.
Let’s celebrate the diverse flavors of the world and the shared joy that food brings to our lives.

Chicken Miso Ramen
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker
- 1 Hand Blender
- 1 Fine Mesh Stainless Steel Strainer
- 1 Stainless Steel Mesh Colander
- 1 Stainless Steel Scallion Cutter optional
Ingredients
Soup Broth Base
- 400 g Chicken wing tips
- 500 g Pork belly or shoulder loin for chashu
- 1 Chinese leek green part
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 2-3 slices Ginger
- 1.5 L Water
- 10 g Dried bonito flakes
- 1 Cabbage core
Chashu
- 150 ml Soy sauce
- 50 ml Cooking Sake
- 50 ml Mirin
- 2 tsp Sugar
Miso Soup
- 2 Garlic cloves grated
- 1 slice Ginger grated
- 125 ml Miso paste
- 1 bag Bean sprouts 250g
- 1 brunch Chinese chives chopped
- 1 Chinese leeks white part, shredded
- 1 package Fresh ramen noodles
- Japanese Pepper optional
- Chili oil optional
Instructions
Soup Broth Base
- Place all broth base ingredients except the bonito flakes into the pressure cooker, bring it to a boil.
- After boiling, use the mesh strainer to scoop out the foam and fat, rinse it off from the strainer in a bowl of cold water. Repeat process until broth looks clear of foam and fat as much as possible.
- Cook high pressure for 25 mins.
- Quick release after it's done, remove pork belly and set aside.
- Crush the bones using the hand blender.
- Add in the dried bonito and boil on low heat for 10 mins.
- Strain soup through a colander.
Chashu sauce
- Place all chashu sauce ingredients into a small pot and bring it to a boil to evaporate the alcohol.
- After it cools down, place pork belly with just enough sauce to cover and leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
- Drain chashu before serving and slice thinly, place them on a oven-safe pan.
- Torch the pork slices until browned. Set aside.
Ramen Egg
- Place steamer rack or trivet and add 1 cup of cold water in the pressure cooker. Place the eggs at the center of the rack. Pressure Cook at low Pressure 4 minutes + Quick Release.
- Open the lid and immediately place the eggs in a bowl of cold water. Pour out the water in the bowl and refill it with cold tap water and place the eggs back into the bowl for another 3 minutes.
- Carefully crack and remove the eggs shells.
- Dilute the rest of the chashu sauce with equal parts water and place boiled eggs in marinade and leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
Cooking Miso Soup and Assembly of the Ramen
- Sauté the garlic and ginger in a big soup pot over low heat.
- Add in miso paste and soup broth base that we've made earlier, bring it to a boil over medium heat.
- Meanwhile, boil water in another pot and cook ramen noodles. Use your fingers to spread out ramen noodles as much as possible before cooking.
- Add ramen noodles into boiling water, wait until water comes to a boil again, then cook accordingly to the package instructions.
- DO NOT rinse noodles after cooking, place in bowl for serving.
- Add bean sprouts, chinese chives to the boiling soup broth.
- Pour soup broth over boiled noodles.
- Top with 2 halves of a ramen egg, chashu pieces bean sprouts, chinese chives and leek.
- Top with chili oil and Japanese pepper to taste.
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