Tantanmen Ramen
Photography: ROLAND PERSSON
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Tantanmen Ramen

Tantanmen is one kind of ramen that retains most if its Chinese roots. This dish is topped with minced pork, and the fermented bean and chilli paste together with the sesame paste makes an extremely flavourful broth. Most people the super-thick variety, jam-packed with sesame.
Photography: ROLAND PERSSON
Serves
4
Total Time
25 Minutes
Ingredients
1.8l of pork and chicken broth
8-12 tbsp of Japanese sesame paste (neri goma) or tahini
4 tbsp of chilli oil
4 portions of ramen noodles
Aalt
Crispy pork mince
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
400g of pork mince
2 spring onions, finely shredded
1½ tbsp of finely grated ginger root
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 tbsp of fermented bean and chilli paste (tobanjan)
1 tsp of sesame oil
2 tbsp of Japanese soy sauce
For the topping
2 small pak choi, leaves picked
180g of fresh beansprouts
4 spring onions, finely shredded
4 soy sauce pickled eggs
4 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds, crushed
Method
Step 1

Bring the broth to the boil in a pan and simmer over a low heat.

Step 2

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Blanch the pak choi in the boiling water for about 30 seconds, then dip in the beansprouts quickly. Remove the vegetables with a sieve so that you don’t have to drain all the water and boil new for the noodles. Rinse the vegetables immediately in cold water, they should still be very crunchy.

Step 3

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the mince together with the spring onions, ginger and garlic. Add the fermented bean and chilli paste, sesame oil and soy sauce. Fry until the mince has coloured nicely and is crispy.

Step 4

Fill four bowls with hot water to warm them. Discard the water when it’s time to plate up. Whisk a quarter of the sesame paste and chilli oil together in each bowl. Add the broth and stir.

Step 5

Boil the noodles for approximately 45 seconds in the pan of water on a rolling boil. It’s best to use a noodle basket or a sieve so that you can reuse the water and quickly take out the noodles once done. You only have a window of a few seconds to make sure they’re not under- or over-cooked. Drain thoroughly and transfer the noodles to the broth bowls.

Step 6

Top with the mince, pak choi, beansprouts, spring onion and pickled eggs. Serve sprinkled with the sesame seeds.

Recipe Courtesy Of Ramen: Japanese Noodles and Side Dishes by Tove Nilsson, published by Pavilion Books.

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