Serves 6
FOR THE BROTH
6 litres water
1 handful dried shiitake mushrooms
1kg chicken drumsticks
500g pork bones
1 bunch spring onions
Pinch of white peppercorns
1 sheet kombu soaked in 2 litres of
cold water overnight to make dashi
(Japanese stock)
FOR THE PORK BELLY
1kg pork belly, skin removed
500ml ramen broth (see above)
5 bay leaves
1 tbsp star anise
1 stick cinnamon
Garlic clove
1 shallot
1 tbsp each of salt, sugar, miso
100ml sakeLarkin says:This makes a large
portion of broth. If you don’t need it
all, you can freeze any leftover.
Instead of soaking kombu, you
could buy dashi (available from big
supermarkets and Asian stores).
1 Place all the ingredients except the
dashi in a large stock pot. Bring to a
boil and reduce to a simmer for 5
hours. Top up water as you go so it
doesn’t reduce too much.
2 After 5 hours, turn off the heat and
add the soaked kombu and its water
into the stock pot and let steep for 30
mins before straining through a sieve.
3 To prepare the pork belly, place the
meat, 500ml of your ramen broth and
all other ingredients into a casserole.
Cover tightly with foil and place into
a preheated oven at 180C/Fan 160C/
Gas 4 for 2.5 hours. Take out of the oven
and let it steep in the liquid as it cools.
4 Take out of the liquid and place into
the fridge for a couple of hours. Once
the pork belly has cooled you can cut
it into slices.TO SERVE
Ramen noodles
Beansprouts
Nori seaweed
Soft boiled eggs
Soy
Sake
Mirin1 Heat up the ramen broth. In a
separate pan of boiling water, blanch
the noodles.
2 Meanwhile add soy, sake and mirin
in equal quantities to a bowl before
adding the ramen broth. Taste to
check seasoning but I usually use
1 tbsp of each per 500ml of
ramen broth.
3 Add the ramen noodles and finish
with the sliced pork belly and
toppings, adjusting quantities and
variations to taste.LIVING (^) | EATING WELL
Larkin’s pork belly
ramen
Pork belly ramen
using homemade bone
broth: that’s a whole
lotta flavour that
makes all the slow
cooking worthwhile