Homemade ramen noodles are more delicious and rewarding to make than packaged ramen.
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What Are Ramen Noodles?
Ramen noodles are springy, yellow, wheat-flour noodles served in the Japanese noodle soup of the same name. Ramen noodles get their yellowish color from kansui, an alkaline mineral water. In Japan, ramen shops serve noodles with a variety of thicknesses and textures. Ramen originated in China, but it became common in Japan, particularly after World War II, when ramen’s popularity rose above other Japanese noodles such as soba and udon.
3 Tips for Making Homemade Ramen Noodles
Making ramen noodles is a time-intensive project. The following tools and ingredients make the process easier for home cooks:
- 1. Pasta machine: Using a pasta machine, whether it's a hand-cranked manual version or an attachment for your stand mixer, will make rolling and cutting the noodle dough much easier.
- 2. Baking soda: An alkaline solution is a key component of ramen. You can buy kansui powder at well-stocked Asian grocery stores or online, but baking soda is a great substitute. First, you'll need to transform baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) into sodium carbonate, one of the main ingredients in kansui, by baking it in the oven.
- 3. High-protein flour: Flour with a high protein content contains more gluten, which gives the noodles a chewier texture. Bread flour, which is higher in protein than all-purpose flour, is best for ramen noodles.
4 Tips for Making the Best Bowl of Ramen
If you're making Japanese ramen for the first time, consider these tips:
- 1. The best ramen starts with high-quality ingredients. If you have the time, using homemade chicken stock and fresh ramen noodles will yield a more delicious soup.Season the chicken broth with salt, shoyu (soy sauce), or miso for added flavor.
- 2. Prep toppings ahead of time. Ramen noodles cook quickly. To avoid soggy noodles, make sure your soup base and toppings are ready before you start cooking the noodles. Popular garnishes include soft boiled eggs, thinly sliced green onions, sesame seeds, and shiitake mushrooms for an umami flavor.
- 3. Don't salt the ramen cooking water. Although ramen noodles cook similarly to pasta, you don't need to salt the boiling water since the noodles already contain salt.
- 4. Add umami. Satisfying ramen broths are packed with umami from savory meat, miso paste, mushrooms, and/or MSG. If your ramen tastes bland, try adding an umami ingredient.
Homemade Fresh Ramen Noodles Recipe
makes
prep time
1 hrtotal time
49 hr 5 mincook time
5 minIngredients
- 1
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2
Spread the baking soda over a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.
- 3
Let cool.
- 4
In a large measuring cup, combine 1 teaspoon of the sodium carbonate (baked baking soda) with the salt and 1 cup of water and stir to dissolve. (You may have extra sodium carbonate. Store excess in an airtight container at room temperature.)
- 5
Transfer the flour to a large bowl. Add the water mixture slowly, stirring with your hands in a circular motion.
- 6
Once you've added all the liquid, use both hands to toss and stir the mixture into a shaggy dough.
- 7
Transfer the dough to a zip-top bag, pressing the dough into a rectangle at the bottom half of the bag.
- 8
Let rest in the refrigerator overnight.
- 9
The next day, roll out the dough. Using a bench scraper, cut the dough into four equal pieces.
- 10
Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a rectangle thin enough to fit through the pasta machine's thickest setting, about ⅕ of an inch thick.
- 11
Feed the dough through the pasta machine.
- 12
Fold the dough in half and repeat with each piece of dough until the dough is a smooth sheet, about twice more.
- 13
Let each sheet rest in a plastic bag for 30 minutes.
- 14
Using the pasta machine, roll each sheet of dough on progressively thinner settings until the dough has reached your desired thickness.
- 15
Using the thinnest noodle cutter, run the sheets through the pasta machine to form noodles.
- 16
Toss the noodles with cornstarch, and roll each portion into a nest.
- 17
Place the noodles on a parchment-lined sheet pan and cover with plastic wrap.
- 18
Refrigerate overnight.
- 19
To cook noodles, bring a large pot of unsalted water to a boil over high heat.
- 20
Add noodles, stirring with chopsticks or a wooden spoon to prevent clumping. Cook until tender, about 1–3 minutes, depending on thickness.
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