Now let’s cook
Ramen, today with sauerkraut. It simmers right in the broth, the way it does in shchi, the Russian cabbage soup, and the ramen feels oddly familiar.
Ingredients
- 500 g pork bellyboneless pork belly in one piece: the fatty cut from the pig’s belly
- 300 ml soy saucenaturally brewed from soybeans, wheat, salt and water
- 300 ml waterplain tap water
- 60 g spring onionscallions, or Japanese long onions: green tubular leaves and a white base
- 15 g gingerfresh ginger root
- 1600 ml waterplain tap water
- 60 ml soy saucenaturally brewed from soybeans, wheat, salt and water
- 2 tbsp chicken stock granulesinstant chicken stock in granules
- 2 tsp oyster saucea dark, thick sauce made from oysters
- 6 g garlicfresh garlic: the cloves are peeled and grated
- 570 g ramen noodlesfresh wheat ramen noodles: the dough is alkaline, which gives the noodles their chew
- 160 g sauerkrautshredded white cabbage that has been fermented, which gives it a sour edge
- 40 g spring onionscallions, or Japanese long onions: green tubular leaves and a white base
Method
Tie the pork belly tightly with kitchen twine so that it keeps its shape. Set 60 g of the spring onions aside to cook with the pork and slice the other 40 g into thin rings for serving.
Put the pork in a pot with 300 ml of soy sauce, 300 ml of water, the 60 g of spring onions and 15 g of sliced ginger. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down low and simmer for 40 minutes, until the pork is cooked through: at least 71 °C in the thickest part. If the liquid does not cover the pork, turn it from time to time.
Take the pot off the heat. Within two hours, move the pork with its liquid into a covered container and put it in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight.
An hour before serving, bring 1600 ml of water, 2 tbsp of chicken stock granules, 2 tsp of oyster sauce and 6 g of grated garlic to the boil in a large pot. Add 160 g of sauerkraut (if it is very sour, rinse it under cold water first), cover and simmer over a low heat for 60 minutes, until the cabbage is soft. At the end pour in 60 ml of soy sauce and do not add salt.
In a separate pot, boil plenty of water and cook the noodles as the packet says. Drain them well.
Take the pork out of the fridge and out of its liquid, remove the twine and cut the meat into slices about 5 mm thick. Lower the slices into the hot broth for 2 minutes, until they are hot all the way through.
Divide the noodles between four deep bowls. Lift the slices of pork and the sauerkraut out of the broth with a slotted spoon, then ladle the hot broth over the noodles. Pile the sauerkraut on top, lay the slices of pork beside it and scatter the sliced spring onions over the top. Serve straight away.