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Black Pig Shabu
Shabu Chilli Ramen, a Kyushu specialty, is made from a
milky-white pork bone broth and served with succulent slices of
braised pork. It is available at Tampopo Japanese Family
Restaurant located in the basement of Liang Court in River
Valley Road.
Photo ©
Christopher Chong for
Foodie Passion.
Ramen or La-mien? That is the question.
Fortunately for the
hungry amongst us, they are basically the same thing. Fussy eaters,
however, will point out the finer differences between the two.
Both these names refer to the same food - noodles, that which is
made from wheat flour.
La-mien means
'pulled noodles' in the Chinese language, which describes the
method used in making the noodles.
A lump of dough is
held with both hands and pulled apart and stretched to the span
of the spread arms. This creates a thick tube of dough. Then the
dough is folded over by bringing the two ends together, halving
its length, and the two newly-formed ends are pulled apart once
more. The process is repeated again and again, with dry flour
applied for easy handling, until a thick wad of dough strands is
formed - wheat noodles as fresh as you can get.
It is then cooked
into a hot steaming bowl of la-mien or ramen with the
accompanying broth and other ingredients.
Ramen is the
Japanese version of this popular and universal Chinese dish.
Although noodle-making has a history dating back 4000 years, it
was widely introduced into Japan only relatively recently - about one
hundred years ago.
The Japanese have
whole-heartedly taken to the dish and have adapted it to produce
numerous regional and local differences between one bowl of
ramen and another. Dozens of unique ramen dishes have been
created by the Japanese, including cold ramen dishes, which are
perfect for the summer months.
The secret of a bowl of delicious ramen is
in the broth.
It is usual for a ramen chef to undergo a long training period to master how to
make the stock.
Chefs will take their time preparing it, with some taking as long as 1 to 2 days
to complete the whole process.
There are many variations of making the broth, using pork or chicken bones as the
base ingredient. The bones are boiled in combination with other ingredients, like
niboshi or
dried baby sardines,
kombu or
kelp, shiitake mushrooms, and an assortment of
vegetables, depending on the chef.
There are 2
types of pork stock - a milky one, used for tonkotsu ramen, and
a clear-brown one, looking like the French consomme soup, used for other ramen dishes.
The most common ramen dishes are
the plain shio ramen or salt-flavoured soup
ramen, the simple shoyu ramen
or ramen in a soy sauce-flavoured soup which is popular in Tokyo,
tonkotsu ramen from Kyushu, and miso ramen or miso-flavoured soup ramen
from Hokkaido. Miso is
fermented soy bean paste.
Categories of ramen
dishes, and their different soup bases:
Tonkotsu Ramen : Pork stock, milky-white
Shoyu Ramen :
Chicken stock, with
vegetables and soy sauce, clear-brown
Shio Ramen :
Chicken stock, salt
flavored, clear, almost transparent
Miso Ramen :
Chicken stock, miso added to flavour
Popular toppings for
ramen are cha-shyu or roast pork, yakibuta or braised pork, negi or leek,
shinachiku
or seasoned bamboo shoot, nori or dried seaweed, bean
sprouts, corn, spinach, and sliced boiled egg.
Here is a gallery of
various types of ramen
dishes.
© Pat F for
Foodie Passion. All
rights reserved. |
