On Cold Winter Nights Treat Your Family with Easy Quality Ramen

Posted on Jan 2, 2015 in Hiroko's Blog, Recipes

I am sure many people started New Year with “Eat healthy 2015”-kind of slogan. No matter which diet you are going to diving into, a good diet is a diet with common sense. Choose ingredients which are not endangered nor farmed or raised unethically. Do not reach out to overly processed, convenient food items. Eat everything balanced. Spend time in the kitchen to make meals. Eat home-made meals at the table with family members.

Here is a hussle-free, quick to make, delicious ramen dish for your family on some of cold nights during this winter. This is not Tonkotsu. Do not expect fatty, heavy broth. This version is a lot healthier. If you have time make your chicken stock – your family is the happiest and the luckiest.

chicken ramenRamen with chicken broth, chicken, and kale

This is a ramen dish which we can easily prepare in our kitchen with readily available chicken stock in a can or pouch. Ramen noodle bowl usually has sliced fatty pork belly as a topping, but this ramen has less fatty and easily available choice – chicken thigh. To make the ordinary chicken stock flavorful I infuse it with ginger and corn. Little trick goes a long way. I cook chicken with skin attached. Sweet flavor from the fat is a bonus.

4 servings

Two 6 ounce boned thigh

1 teaspoon sea salt

5 ounce kale with stems

4 cups low sodium chicken stock

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 thumb size ginger, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices

1/3 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

One small tomato, cut into 4 wedges

1 large scallion stalk, both white and green parts sliced thin diagonally

4 portions of dry ramen noodles; You can find the dry ramen noodles individually packed, around 2 to 2 1/5 ounces. This type comes with seasoning in a separate mini package, but we do not use it.

In a medium pot bring 4 cups water to a boil and add the chicken thigh with skin. Cook the chicken until the outside is white, or about 40 seconds. Drain the chicken, discarding the cooking liquid. In the rinsed pot bring 4 cups new water to a boil. Add the sea salt and submerge the stem part of the kale in the hot water, holding the leafy part with a tong. Cook the root part for 30 seconds. Push and submerge all leaves in hot water and cook for 30 seconds. Drain the kale and cool it under cold tap water. Cut the kale into 2-inch long pieces.

In the rinsed potadd the shoyu and bring it to a simmer over medium-low heat. Add the brown sugar and stir to dissolve. Turn off the heat and set aside.

In rolled chicken cookinganother medium pot add the chicken stock, ginger slices and corn kernels and bring it to a gentle simmer. Add the drained chicken and cook them, covered, for 5 minutes over low-medium heat. Drain the chicken stock through a colander set over a bowl, reserving the stock. Transfer the stock to the pot. Pick up the chicken thigh in the colander and transfer them to the pot with shoyu and brown sugar, discarding the ginger and corn. Cook the chicken in the shoyu and brown sugar over medium-low for 5 minutes. During cooking turn the chicken over every minute of cooking. Remove the pot from the fire and let the chicken cool for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the cooking liquid and transfer them to a chopping board, reserving the cooking liquid in a small cup. You have about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. We use this liquid to flavor our chicken stock.

Return the pot with the infused chicken stock to the stove top and bring it to a simmer. Add all of the chicken cooking liquid to the pot. Add the tomato wedges to the pot and put the pot over very low heat, covered with a lid.

Bring plenty water in a large pot to a hard boil. Add the ramen noodles and cook for 4 minutes, or as instructed on the package. While cooking the noodles cut the chicken into bite sized small pieces. Drain the cooked noodles in a colander and divide it into four bowls. Divide and pour over the flavored chicken stock. Divide and add each bowl the tomato, chicken pieces and kale. Garnish each bowl with white and green part of the scallions.