If you love ramen, you probably know that the ramen broth is the soul of this dish. It is what gives ramen its rich and complex flavor, and what makes you slurp every last drop from your bowl.
We love a good ramen!
What is your favorite?
There are so many different types of ramen broth!
But finding an excellent ramen restaurant here in town is quite a challenge.
So why not try an make our own favorite ramen broth at home: tori paitan!
Let’s get started!
How to make tori paitan ramen broth
Making tori paitan broth is not difficult, but it does take quite some time.
And even more patience – mostly because this broth smells so good while it cooks and simmers and it makes you want to eat right away!
I made my tori paitan ramen broth in my pressure cooker, but you can of course make it in a stock pot as well. I will indicate the cooking time for that in my recipe as well.
Since it takes quite a few ingredients and time to make, you can decide to make a large batch and keep some for later.
This ramen broth freezes perfectly well!!
For the tori paitan ramen broth
A delicious homemade broth, to die for!
- 4 spring onions
- 1 large fresh carrot not peeled
- 4 chicken thighs with skin
- 3 large garlic cloves not peeled
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 thick slice smoked bacon or pork belly
- ham hog skin and fat optional or extra smoked bacon
- 8 cooked shiitake mushrooms (optional)
- homemade dashi (see recipe below)
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1. Chop the spring onion in half, and the carrot into thick slices. Roast it all in a dry and hot non-stick pan for about 10 minutes until charred a little. Shake the pan regularly.
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2. Add the chicken thighs, roasted carrot and spring onion, garlic cloves, smoked bacon, ham hog skin and fat (optional) and soy sauce to a large pan. Add the dashi (recipe below) until all the ingredients are submerged. You can also add the cooked shiitake mushrooms you made dashi with. They will get more tender to use as a ramen topping in the end.
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3. Pressure cook the ingredients for 45 minutes. Using a pot on the stove? Simmer the broth for 90 minutes.
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4. Strain the broth and pour the flavourful broth back into the pot. You should have about 8 cups of broth. Let the chicken cool. Once you can touch it without burning your fingers, remove the skin from the thigh meat and add the skin to the broth. Push the soft garlic meat out of their pockets and add it to the pot as well. Blend the ramen broth until it turns milky white. Taste and add extra soy sauce if necessary. Let the broth cool, or use immediately to make a ramen soup.
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5. Discard the cooked bacon, ham fat and skin, spring onions and carrots. Remove the chicken meat from the bones, slice the shiitake mushrooms and use them both as a topping for your ramen soup.
Due to the high collagen content of the ramen broth, it will set and become quite gelatinous once cooled and kept in the fridge. Reheat or microwave it gently to make it liquid again.
For the dashi broth
I start by making a dashi, or a Japanese broth that is often used as a base for miso, ramen soups and other Japanese dishes.
Since I can’t find all the authentic dashi ingredients, I make my own version of it and it is delicious as well.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 8 cups (2 litres)
- 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 sheets nori
- 1 tbsp katsuobushi
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a large pot. If you use a pressure cooker, cook it all under high pressure for 20 minutes. If you use a pot on the stove, bring it all to a gentle boil. Cook the dashi under a lid for an hour.
- Strain the dashi and pour it back into the pot. Discard the cooked nori and katsuobushi. Rinse the shiitake mushrooms and keep them aside to add to your ramen broth.
