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Slow Cooker Ramen, you say? So, it turns out the key to getting a really tasty ramen broth with lots of depths of flavour is two fold.
One, the slow cooker is your answer to getting a beautifully infused broth full of fresh ginger, garlic and miso, and two, you need to serve it with a homemade hot sauce.
After the staggering success of my Slow Cooker Thai Red Chicken Curry the other week, today I’m sharing this easy slow cooker ramen template recipe that you can customise with all your favourites; the main swaps or additions that come to mind are bits of shredded leftover duck, chicken, pork or beef (or raw king prawns or slithers of steak, poached gently in the broth while the noodles are cooking, still in the slow cooker) for those of you who are more meat minded, or removing the egg for a vegan bowlful.
My boyfriend jokes that when we used to work in the same building, when I came to eat my packed lunch in his office I was always building my lunch out of lots of little components I’d individually packed in little plastic bottles, tubs and containers. He laughed, but I had the most tasty meals – even better than the food from the cafeteria downstairs, and they were capable of churning out so many amazing dishes – and this is one of those dishes you can also pack carefully to trigger serious desk envy. Carry the broth in a soup pot with a tight lid to microwave, and pack cooked noodles, veg that is okay to eat raw, the tofu cubes and your eggs in another tub. Pack some hot sauce in another tub on the side, and while the sesame seeds are optional, you can also pack them separately!
Can I add any other toppings to my ramen?
Of course! The possibilities are literally endless from different types of noddles to slices of cooked meat: if you think it will work with Asian-style flavours, add it in!
This recipe is from my upcoming second cookbook, One Pan Pescatarian. For more recipes like this, pre-order here! (ad)
The key to making a deep, flavourful base for your weeknight ramen bowls is to use the slow cooker for an aromatic broth, before you let everyone customise their own bowls! Serve with my Korean sweet chilli sauce.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Broth
750ml (3 cups) Fresh Vegetable Stock
4 cm Fresh Ginger
2 Large Garlic Cloves
1 1/2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Japanese Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Red Miso Paste
For the Ramen
2 Nests Ramen Noodles
2 Baby Pak Choi
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Red Chilli
2 Large Spring Onions
50g Cubed Silken Tofu
Toasted Sesame Seeds or Furikake, to serve
Your Favourite Hot Sauce, to serve
Instructions
Combine the vegetable stock, the ginger (sliced into coins), the garlic cloves (lightly smashed using the end of a rolling pin – no need to peel them!), the soy sauce, the rice vinegar and the miso paste in your slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for 8 hours. Alternatively, bring all the ingredients to a boil together in a large, lidded saucepan before reducing to a very low simmer and allowing to infuse, lid on for an hour.
Thickly slice the pak choi and add it to the slow cooker or your saucepan along with the noodles. Cook on low for 15 minutes, or until the noodles are tender.
Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 6 minutes before plunging them in cold water to stop them cooking. Carefully peel and halve once they are cool enough to handle, and thinly slice the chilli and spring onions.
Divide the noodles, pak choi and the soup between two bowls, and top with the halved eggs, red chilli and spring onion slices, the tofu cubes and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Bring the hot sauce to the table so that people can help themselves.
Notes
Furikake is a Japanese dry seasoning, typically made from a mix of sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar and salt. You can get it from Whole Foods, Amazon or your nearest Asian supermarket. Some versions also contain dried fish, so check the ingredients if you are following a vegetarian or vegan diet.
As I only need a fraction of the pack silken tofu usually comes in for this soup I tend to scramble it for breakfast the next day. Just drain the leftovers, mash lightly with a fork and scramble in a hot pan, adding salt, ground turmeric and garlic granules to taste.
I'm a food writer living in the English Countryside. Welcome to my online diary where I share easy, weeknight recipes, foodie travel diaries and some of the best places I've eaten out recently.
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One Pan Pescatarian: 100 Delicious Dinners – Veggie, Vegan, Fish
My second cookbook contains 100 delicious dinner recipes, all of which are either vegetarian, vegan or which celebrate fish and seafood - all cooked in either one pot or one pan.*
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