Dining with the Chef!

Today's theme is instant ramen, a food that originated in Japan but continues to evolve throughout the world.

Rika will show you some techniques you can use to transform it into a high-class, restaurant-quality dish.

Do you know how, you know, the secrets to making good instant ramen?

- There are secrets!?
- Yes.

- I think what you do is boil it and eat it, right?
- Yes.

- It's instant.
- But there are few points.

- Really?
- Yes.

First one. It's very important to have the water boiled.

It has to be piping hot.

- Okay. Boil the water before adding noodles.
- Mm-hmm.

- Okay. That's good.
- That's important.

And second, once you place this, and set the timer.

This one is supposedly 3 minutes, but subtract like 30 seconds?

Okay. So make the water boiling hot before you add the noodles

and subtract about 30 seconds from the cooking time on the package.

Okay. Oh!

- Okay. Then...
- No time to lose.

Looks good.

So these are toppings.

You know, sometimes people just eat as it is, but sometimes it's very nice, and nutrition-wise,

you should add a little vegetables or seaweed or eggs.

It will just enrich the flavor and also nutrition.

- Okay. So you're not just eating instant ramen, you're making your instant ramen like restaurant ramen.
- Exactly.

So there are like different kinds of ramen in Japan and so many things, so colorful.

We place "Menma" and other vegetables, corn...

"Char Siu" pork.

So we make it colorful, so it's almost like a one full dinner.

So I want to show you or introduce you some of the toppings that you can make at home.

Great. So no reason your instant ramen can't be gourmet ramen as well.

Let's elevate your ramen game.

Tokyo, an Asian city with the largest metropolitan population in the world,

the boundaries between old Japan and futuristic Japan are blurred in this metropolis.

The food here is a fusion of cuisine, not just from around Asia, but around the world.

Our program host is culinary expert, Rika Yukimasa.

And our co-host is Patrick Harlan, aka Pakkun.

Rika's Tokyo Cuisine.

Today let's make gourmet ramen at home.

- Okay, so here we have a line up of standard ramen toppings.
- Yes.

The favorites. We have "Char Siu" Pork and "Naruto," which is like processed fish, and "Nori" somewhere over here.

And then we have regular chicken eggs, quail eggs, spinach and "Menma."

"Menma" which are bamboo shoots, right?

Yes. It's fermented and seasoned bamboo shoots. It's very popular in Japan.

Super good.

"Naruto" is a fish cake and it has a kind of like pink swirl, to make you dazzle, to feel like you love ramen.

Your eyes do that. Think that you're in the cartoons, right?

Well, "Naruto" is an area in Japan which is famous for its whirlpools, right?

So it sort of looks like a whirlpool.

And different ramen restaurants will put, like, their logo on the "Naruto," which is floating there in the soup.

- It's really cool.
- But those two are quite difficult to, you know, get it.

- Abroad.
- Yes. Abroad.

- So, I want to show you or introduce you some of the toppings that you can make at home.
- Great.

So let's start with the vegetables.

Yes. Colors are important.

- True.
- Yes.

So we could use pretty much any vegetables there are.

Anything will go in ramen.

But traditional standard toppings include spinach and bean sprouts and Japanese leeks and cabbage of course.

Yes.

How do you prepare, for example, cabbage, spinach and bean sprouts?

Everything, you can actually microwave.

Cut it into pieces. Put it in microwave.

- Then you know, ready to go.
- You're ready.

- Okay.
- Or you can boil it.

- You can boil it with your noodles if you want.
- Yes.

Sure. Except the leeks.

- These don't need to be boiled, right?
- No.

- Why don't you show us how to prepare leeks?
- Yes.

You know, we have two different parts, white parts and green parts.

And you cut differently.

This one white part.

We make things like angel hair.

- Angel hair?
- Yes.

- Like this, same length.
- Okay.

Make slice and open like this.

Put these out.

And cut into really thin slices.

Precision craftsmanship.

You're an artist.

- So like this.
- Mm-hmm.

And put it into water.

- Oh, it's beautiful.
- Yes.

So this is one famous way of preparing leeks. It does look like angel hair.

It's beautiful. It's fun.

It has a lovely texture, but it's kind of a hassle.

- For me, I'd like an easier alternative, please.
- Okay.

So the easier one.

Its green part.

Cut this part. Like when you cut into thin slices, you should collect everything all together.

And when you cut it, I don't know, I think the Japanese way is using this bottom.

- Closest to the handle?
- Yes.

- The base of the knife, closest to the handle. It's easy to get more power there.
- Yes.

And you don't pull in the way that you usually do when you're cutting fish, for example?

No, not this one.

Okay. So this thing has a pungent flavor. So you want to dump into the water.

Right. You can eat it raw, but it's good to let it sit in water for a few minutes before you actually add it to your ramen.

Yes.

- Great. Our leeks are ready to go?
- Yes.

- Now let's do boiled eggs.
- Yes.

Sounds simple, right? But there are tricks for this, too?

Yes.

They're very common in ramen, but I can't always make them right.

Sometimes they sort of crack and leak while I'm boiling them.

- Sometimes I boil them okay, but I can't peel them right.
- Right.

And sometimes, even if I' peel them and cut them right, the yolk is either too hard or too soft.

Yes.

- Pretty much everyone has these problems.
- Yes.

- So the the most important thing is to pay attention.
- Pay attention.

And a little trick like this, it would be very helpful, like making a little pierce like hall.

- Little, tiny hall.
- Little, tiny hall with if you have needle, you can do that.

- But if you come to Japan, Japan is a country with full of gadgets.
- Right.

We make things like this for less than a dollar.

- This is an egg piercer.
- Yes.

And we just place this the roundish part.

Make a sound.

- You hear that?
- Yes.

- That's... May I show them?
- Mm-hmm.

So if you look closely, there's a needle down in the bottom here.

You press the egg down, and it pops through the the shell right there.

That's the sound we hear.

You can't even see the hole. It's so small.

- All right. I'm telling you, you can't see it.
- Yeah.

You can look as much as you want but you can't see it.

If you don't have an egg piercer, use a needle to puncture the shell.

This releases the gas inside, so it's easier to peel, and it's less likely to crack while boiling.

If you use too much water, the eggs will float, bump against each other, and crack.

So, add just enough water to cover the eggs.

Turn the heat to high.

And we're going to put a lid on it, right?

- Because basically the heat escapes without the lid.
- Yes.

- So this is a faster way to make it boil.
- Mm-hmm.

Got it.

Today we're going to make soft-boiled eggs using eggs straight from the fridge.

Bring to a boil, remove the lid and reduce the heat to low.

Continue boiling for 6 minutes.

Gently moving the eggs around will keep the yolk centered.

- Okay. It's beeping at us.
- Okay.

- So I guess we can turn off the heat?
- Yes.

All right. And transfer these to the bowl? Alright. One at a time. Careful.

We need to do this because you don't want to cook the eggs with residual heat.

Okay, so this is just a bowl of cold water.

All right.

Peeling the eggs in water, makes it easier to remove the shell.

- If you have a sharp knife, you want to cut with one stroke.
- Okay.

If you cut it like this, and you will see the surface will be kind of like rough.

Okay. Get a sharp knife and cut in one fell swoop.

Beautiful. Oh, sorry.

To me, this is just about perfect.

- Not too firm, not too runny.
- Yes.

Oh, that looks wonderful the inside of the egg.

If you don't have a sharp knife, you can cut it with strings.

- Do you want to try?
- I do.

I understand the principle, but I've never done this.

Okay, so this is nice.

- Just press?
- Yes.

- Really?
- Yes.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Hey, it took a minute, but it...

Yeah, it went right through.

Looks beautiful.

Look at that!

Beautiful.

Wow.

It's pretty, isn't it?

And we have beautiful boiled eggs.

Perfect for Ramen.

So what's left?

Now for the "Char Siu" pork.

The main event? Woohoo!

So "Char Siu pork" is awesome. I love it, but never made it on my own.

I mean, I'm actually kind of impressed, intimidated that you can make "Char Siu" pork.

So easy.

Okay. So I see that we have the ingredients here.

We have sugar, "mirin," which is like a sweet sake wine and soy sauce.

- And this looks like honey.
- Honey.

Interesting. Okay.

- And I notice that you have a string here.
- Mm-hmm.

Are we going to cut this like the egg?

- This time, tie this pork around it.
- Tie it.

So I've seen the "Char Siu" pork tied up. What's that for?

- Well, they want to retain the shape.
- Okay.

That's one of the biggest reasons.

- Okay. So the string helps you keep it in a nice chunk?
- Yes.

- It cooks evenly and doesn't fall apart.
- Yes.

So now what do we do?

Now I'm going to tie around with this string.

But this one, maybe once you get the hang of it, it's very easy to do.

- Really?
- Yes.

Just have to learn it. It's almost like knitting in a way.

Knitting? Okay.

You tie this.

- You tie it tight first time.
- Yes.

And then from here, you make a round like this.

- Show it slowly for me.
- Yes.

Okay.

You twist your hand. Interesting.

Oh that's really cool.

And then tie them.

Oh, that's really neat.

- Oh, that looks like fun.
- Yeah, it is.

Do you want to do it?

- Do you mind? I would love to try this.
- I think this is fun.

All right, so I think I want you to go like this.

- Like this? You wrap your hand around.
- Yes. That's it.

Pick up the end of the meat and scoot it over here.

And then, when you slide down the string, it's easier to pull it tight like this, maybe.

Great.

- Yeah.
- See? You can do this.

- You can actually make...
- I have a skill.

For Christmas present.

Why don't you make this "Char Siu" for a bunch of your friends?

Yeah, actually, if I told them that I'd done the whole string thing, they would be super impressed.

- That is really fun. And it's not hard at all.
- No.

- Here you go. You want to finish this off?
- Yes.

And then from the bottom...

Finally, tie it up lengthwise as well.

Season with salt, applying the salt evenly on all sides.

Then place in a food storage bag and add the marinade seasonings.

Rub the marinade into the pork.

Marinate in the fridge for 3 hours to let it absorb the flavor.

Okay, so we've let it sit for 3 hours.

And then we've brought it back to room temperature.

- Okay. Let's see what looks like.
- Yes.

Soak in the fridge and let it sit and marinate in the fridge,

but then bring it back to room temperature so you don't make a mistake with the cooking time.

It's pretty simple. Okay.

And place in the oven.

All right.

- Oh, it's pretty low heat.
- Yes, yes.

And then 70 minutes.

70 minutes. Okay.

So the cooking time is going to vary depending on how hot your oven gets.

We should probably keep an eye on the roast, right?

Oh, well, actually, no, because it's 120 Celsius degrees, which is a very low temperature.

Okay.

So it's a it's about 250 Fahrenheit.

- So you don't need to really overlook the oven.
- Okay.

But if you're cooking for the first time, how do you know when it's done?

You should place this, like skewer, place in the center.

And if it looks warm enough, then it's done.

Okay, so cook it until it looks done, but just to make sure poke a skewer and make sure it's warm.

- Yes.
- Okay.

- But it looks like we have a few more hours to sit around.
- Mm-hmm.

All right, see you soon.

Roast at 120 degrees Celsius, for around 70 minutes.

Slow roasting will give you a juicy and tender roast.

Before cutting the roast, let it rest for a while so that the juices are reabsorbed into the meat.

This locks in both the umami and the juices.

Ooh. Because we've let it sit, even after we cut the string, its shape won't fall apart.

- It'll stay in the nice, proper, tied-up shape that we put it.
- Yes.

Okay, let's slice into thin.

Ah, very nice.

Oh, Looks soft. Juicy.

Yeah.

Oh, pork shoulder is such a good cut of pork.

Mm.

I love pork shoulder.

It has both rich pork flavor, but also nice, juicy fat.

- Okay. Looks good.
- That looks great.

Yes.

Today we're going to serve this on ramen, right?

But we actually use "Char Siu" in different settings.

- We serve as a separate dish sometimes.
- Right.

You can also not as a side dish, you can also serve as a main dish,

or you can also place in between the sandwiches.

Or just use for a fried rice.

That's really nice, too.

Sure. You can cut it up and put it in a vegetable stir fry.

It's amazing. It's super versatile.

- And once you've made it, you can serve it in a bunch of different dishes for a week.
- Right.

So the first thing to do, make it!

So look at this lineup. We've got everything prepared to make the perfect bowl of ramen.

Today we're making soy sauce ramen.

With just the soup from the instant ramen package.

But all the toppings are ours.

- Very special.
- Okay.

Today, we're using readily available Japanese instant ramen.

Remember Rika's advice: Add the noodles to boiling water and boil,

subtracting about 30 seconds from the suggested cooking time on the package.

We only had fried noodles in the past.

- But now we have dried noodles.
- Right.

- Instant noodles, which are dried instead of, fried making them a little bit healthier.
- Yes.

It tastes as good as restaurant noodles.

- Is that what we're using now?
- Yes.

Great.

- Okay, I think it's ready.
- Okay.

And then what you do is, instead of using a strainer, in the chopsticks.

And using this strainer.

Use this.

And then fold it.

Fold it. Oh, wow.

- That is cool looking.
- Yeah.

- So final...
- And it's okay to do it two times.

Yes. And then use this strainer like this.

Oh.

So that it looks like a ramen noodle shop.

I've actually seen that in a ramen noodle shop before.

I've never seen anyone do it with instant ramen, though.

Very easy.

- You're an innovator.
- Yes.

And fold it.

Fold and pull.

Yes. Use the strainer.

Yeah. If you have thicker chopsticks, it's easier.

Thicker chopsticks are easier. Okay, I'll remember that.

So the rhythm is important. One, two, three.

Good. First time, you're doing great.

- Thank you. Looks all right.
- Yes.

- Okay.
- And start placing the toppings.

First, I'm going to have pork.

Add your toppings of choice, with attention to the balance of colors, and now you have a bowl of gourmet ramen.

Looks wonderful.

Finally...

Going to have this "nori" seaweed.

Oh. What are you doing with it?

You're just sort of toasting it over the flame, huh?

Yeah. Then do you feel... once you roast "nori," smells wonderful.

Really brings out the aroma of the "nori." That's wonderful.

- That's a cool trick.
- Yes.

They sell roasted "nori," but I guess you can just buy "nori" and roast it yourself.

Wow. The smell of "nori." Wonderful.

You don't want to burn it, right? Just lightly toasted.

Smells so good.

So, from a simple package of instant ramen,

we now have a gourmet ramen dish ready to serve to our guests and ourselves.

- Oh, just right.
- Yes.

We got them out of the water just in time.

Didn't over cook them. Nice firm.

And they've soaked up the flavor of the soup just right.

Oh, so good.

Look at that beautiful, soft pork.

Oh. It's wonderful.

It's soft but juicy.

And it's got that nice, it's almost like a smoky flavor.

From the basting, the marinating and the slow cooking in the oven.

But it also just goes so well with the soup in the noodles.

Oh, it's amazing.

I can't believe we made this in our own kitchen.

Look how gorgeous it is.

It's shining like a jewel.

I never can quite get that right.

But your hint, boiling it, bring it to a boil in 6 minutes,

and that little hole in the bottom so it peels easily, and rolling it around so that the yolk is right in the center.

All of those hints paid off.

This is the perfect egg for ramen.

Amazing.

Thank you.

Well, with the technique or like the development of, I would say the infrastructures and everything,

the instant ramen had leveled up to the point which is almost close to the restaurant level.

Absolutely.

And when you're hungry, you can have, like, little appetizers, like this.

So you can start drinking white wine with this little appetizers.

- Sounds wonderful.
- Isn't that great?

Right. And since we've all gotten in the mood for experimenting and exploring the possibilities of ramen,

since we're eating soy sauce ramen, we have the "Menma" and the "Char Siu," which are great.

What other toppings would go with other types of soups?

I would say, for Miso ramen.

I would put corn, and also butter.

Like they do up in Hokkaido.

Miso and butter goes really well.

- And for a pork bone broth, I place a ginger, like shredded ginger, it's called "Beni Shoga."
- Right.

And sometimes, kind of mushrooms, cloud ear mashrooms.

And sometimes they do that.

And for "Shio" ramen, salty ramen, I place a really thinly sliced lemon.

Lemon on top. Great.

So if you ever have a chance to come to Japan,

you better get these four different tastes from different brands, which comes to 16 packs of ramen.

But you can enjoy things like this.

I hope you enjoyed today's episode on making a good bowl of instant ramen.

It may be hard at first, but you don't have to do everything at once.

Follow the instructions on the package, and take it from there.

So once you've all mastered the basics of transporting the instant ramen into classic connoisseur gourmet ramen,

then it's your turn to start experimenting.

Try different flavors, different toppings, different prep techniques, and then let us know how it turns out.

And thank you for joining us and we will see you again right here on Dining with the Chef.

- Bye bye.
- Bye.

My noodles are getting cold. Got to keep eating.

You are probably eager to start making your own bowl of gourmet ramen.

So once again, here is how.

Add the noodles to boiling water and boil for around 30 seconds less than the suggested cooking time on the packet.

You want to keep the noodles from overcooking while you plate the toppings.

Take the eggs out of the fridge, place in water and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and boil for 6 minutes, for perfect soft-boiled eggs.

Using a string to cut the egg will give you a nice, clean cross section.

For the main topping, "Char Siu" pork, tie the pork, season with salt, and marinate in the fridge for 3 hours.

Slow roast at 120 degrees Celsius, for around 70 minutes for tender and juicy, "Char Siu" pork.

Arrange your toppings and turn your instant ramen into a work of art.

So very simple.

Surprise your friends and family turning something instant into a gourmet dish!