Have you ever thought about cooking Shoyu ramen at home? Or you have thought about it but give up even before you try because you thought it is too difficult? I am going to share the Shoyu ramen recipe that easiest possible way to make Shoyu Ramen at home!
What is Shoyu Ramen?
You probably already know what Ramen is, as it has become a universal dish. But what about Shoyu? Shoyu is soy sauce in Japanese. So Shoyu Ramen means noodles with a soy sauce flavoured soup broth.
What kind of noodle is Ramen?
Ramen noodle is made from wheat flour, salt, water and kansui(alkaline mineral water). People often think that the yellowish colour is from using egg in the noodle. However, alkaline mineral water makes the noodle look yellowish and also makes the noodle firm.
How many flavours of Ramen are there?
There are four main types of ramen in terms of base broth and noodle soup flavour; Shoyu (soy sauce), Shio (salt), Miso, and Tonkotsu (Pork bone base broth). Shoyu and Shio are light and clear soups whereas Miso and Tonkotsu are much heavier and cloudier soups.
Wakayama Ramen
Certain areas of Japan have their own speciality Ramen. The prefecture I am from in Japan is called Wakayama, which is famous for Shoyu Ramen. When I go back to Japan, I eat at least one bowl of Ramen at a restaurant, or at home. I am going to share how my family back in Japan cook it at home.
Is it difficult to make Ramen at home?
Well, the short answer is NO. If you make fresh noodles, and making your own broth from scratch, it will be worth the effort, but it is time-consuming and it will be difficult for the first-timers. Japanese people know how to find shortcuts. We buy ready-made packets of ramen and soup from supermarkets. And the good news is I saw Nisshin brand (my favourite) ramen packets at a local Coles (Australian supermarket)!!
Where can I purchase ready made Ramen packets?
You can buy them from Asian or Japanese grocery stores. The local Japanese grocery stores (in Brisbane) stock many different brands of dry noodle packets as well as fresh noodles and frozen noodles. You can also purchase concentrated soup broth sachets in different flavours as well. If you can not access any local stores, try online in stores such as Amazon.Nissin – Raoh Japanese Instant Ramen Noodles Soy Sauce
Ramen Toppings
Popular and typical ramen toppings are Chashu sliced pork, soft boiled egg (or miso egg), Naruto (pinwheel fish cake), Menma( bamboo shoots), corn, bean sprouts and sliced scallions. Of course, you can be creative and use whatever you like or you have in your fridge and pantry. All toppings need to be thinly sliced and ready before you start to cook the noodles.
Chashu
Chashu is also known as Ramen pork, Cha siu, or Chinese BBQ pork. You can buy ready-made Chashu or if you would like to make your own, follow my popular recipe here.
Soft boiled egg
You can make a soft boiled egg, or Japanese like seasoned egg called “Ajitsuke Tamago”. I have shared a post called miso marinated egg(miso egg) if you would like to try that.
Menma
Menma is a Japanese condiment which is made from lacto-fermented bamboo shoots also known as “Shinachiku”. You can buy these bamboo shoots in a jar from Japanese grocery stores. If you cannot access this ingredient, you can replace this with young corn or something else.
Freshly served Ramen taste the best
Ramen is definitely not a food that you can make ahead and eat the next day. When you cook noodles al dente, it needs to be served and eaten immediately, otherwise the noodles soak up the soup, which changes the texture of the noodles and makes them stretch.
Timing of cooking noodles
For the above reason, although this recipe is easy, the timing of making the soup and cooking noodle is critical. For example, this Nisshin brand noodle takes about 4 minutes to cook. So while you are cooking noodle for 4 minutes, you need to open the soup sachet and make soup so that it is ready.
Ramen Related post
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Shoyu Ramen
Ingredients
- 1 packet of Ramen noodle *1
- 1 slice of Pork Chashu
- 2 slices of Naruto pinwheel Fish cake
- 2 tbsp corn kernel or 20g
- 4-5 Menma bamboo shoots
- ½ soft boiled egg
- 10 g or one handful of bean sprouts
- 1 tsp Sliced scallions
- A nori sheet
- 250 ml or 1 cup of boiling water
Instructions
- Prepare toppings. Slice the naruto fish cake, scallions, and cut the soft boiled egg in half. Cook corn and remove kernels. Wash and trim the bean sprouts. Set all toppings aside.
- Bring water to boil in a large pot.
- Open the packet, remove noodle and put into the boiling water.
- Cook the noodle for 4 minutes to al dente.
- While the noodle is being cooked, empty the seasoning packet and the oil packet to a ramen bowl. *2
- Add the noodles to the water and leave to cook for as many minutes as written on the packet.
- Boil 1 cup of water in a kettle and pour it into the ramen bowl.
- Stir the boiling water to dissolve the seasoning and oil and set aside.
- When the noodle is cooked to al dente, drain the cooking water.
- Add the noodles to the bowls of soup.
- Top with Chashu pork, soft boiled egg, naruto the fish cake, Menma the bamboo shoots, corn kernels, bean sprouts and sliced scallions.
- Stick nori seaweed sheet on the side of the noodle bowl.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
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Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
Thank you for your recipe, easy to prepare yet so heavenly delicious!
Thank you Regs.
This looks like such a beautiful and delicious dish!
I love ramen so much, and look forward to making this at home!
Thank you Alexandra 😀
Where can I find the fish cakes you use? I feel like I’ve searched everywhere!
Where do you live Nikki? Is there any Asian or Japanese grocery stores nearby? They are fish cakes so they are NOT available online usually.
wonderful and delicious thank you !
thank you for your sweet comment!
Great recipe!. I’ve always wondered what is the little white thing with the pink spiral on it. Thanks 🙂
Hi Lisbeth,
That is Naruto. I am not sure if your know any anime. There is a famous one called Naruto named after the food and often Ramen is featured in the anime 😀
What a colorful and delicious bowl of ramen! Love it! Pinning! Your photos are amazing!
Thank you Mira:D
I think I could live off of ramen! This is such a gorgeous bowl and shoyu ramen is one of my favorites too! Great broth recipe recipe too – can’t wait to give it a try!
Thank you Kathleen. Me too, I can live off of ramen. Nowadays you can buy packaged ramen and condensed soup pack but still home made soup is the best as you know what’s in it:D
Love Ramen! This looks like a perfect bowl for all the cold weather we are having lately!
Me too Ramona:D and yes it is the best comfort food for cold winter. I drink all soup too.
This is absolutely adorable! My husband usually gets stuck with the packaged ramen noodles haha! I’ll have to try this for him!
Thank you Cynthia, not packaged ramen for your husband for this coming Valentines day:D
What a gorgeous bowl of ramen. I always love the mix of raw vegetables with the noodles and meat.
Thank you Christie:D. Yes, any meat and vegetables go with ramen well all the time!