Cold Ramen with Spicy Pork & Sesame Dipping Broth

Tan Tan Tsukemen

Cold ramen noodles with simmering hot and spicy broth with toppings create a wonderful dish to enjoy in the summer or all year round. The dipping broth is especially rich as it’s seasoned with hatcho miso (very dark miso made of 100% soybeans) with tamari soy sauce. But, if you don’t have either, you can simply substitute with quality red miso and dark soy sauce respectively and it would still be very tasty. You can also serve the broth cold, and it will be so refreshing and perfect to enjoy on a hot day.

Equipment

Classic-style Donabe Medium-small size (1.2-qt/ 1,200 ml or larger)

In this recipe, I used round donabe steamer, Tayo Donabe (without the grate)

Servings

Ingredients

Broth

1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
10 oz (300 g) ground pork
2 teaspoons tobanjan (Chinese hot bean paste) or kanzuri
1/4 cup (60 ml) hatcho miso (can substitute with red miso)
1 tablespoon raw brown sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) sake
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) Japanese chicken stock or kombu and bonito dashi
1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce
2 tablespoons golden sesame paste
2 oz (60 g) nira (garlic chives), minced (optional)
Ground roasted golden sesame seeds, for serving
La-yu (chili oil) or shichimi togarashi, for serving

4 servings (about 14 oz/ 400 g) ramen noodles

Topping Suggestions

Cucumber, Julienned
Mixed herbs such as chopped cilantro, green onions and mint

Procedure

Heat the sesame oil in a donabe over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger, and sauté until fragrant (1 – 2 minutes).
Add the ground pork and continue to sauté until the pork is almost cooked through. Push the pork to one side and add the tobanjan to the open side. Stir the tobanjan for 30 seconds or so, then stir with the pork.
Whisk together the miso, sugar and sake in a small bowl until the miso is dissolved. Stir in the mixture to the donabe.
Add the stock and turn the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, and immediately reduce the heat to simmer. Simmer for 3 – 4 minutes.
Add the tamari soy sauce and sesame paste, and stir. Add the nira and stir again. Finish with some sprinkles of the ground sesame seeds and drizzles of la-yu.
Cook the ramen noodles according the package’s cooking instructions. Rinse under cold running water and drain well. Transfer to a serving plate(s).
Set up a tables with the dipping broth, ramen, and condiments. Serve some of the broth into individual bowls. Take a small amount of the ramen at a time and dip in the broth and eat. Enjoy with some condiments (you can put a small amount in the broth in a bowl or top on the noodles), including extra ground sesame seeds and la-yu, if you like.
Replenish the bowls with more broth, as necessary.