Miso Tori Paitan Ramen

Ingredients

• For the gyofun:
• 3 dried red chilies, such as árbol, Thai bird, Bangladeshi, or Kashmiri, stemmed, optional
• 5g katsuobushi shavings
• For the miso tare:
• 1 tablespoon shoyu tare
• 2 tablespoons red miso paste
• 2 fresh red Thai bird chilies, stemmed and thinly sliced crosswise, optional
• To Serve:
• 4 cups chicken paitan broth
• 4 teaspoons aroma oil
• 2 servings ramen noodles, either store-bought or homemade
• To Garnish:
• Sliced braised pork belly; marinated egg; and sheets of toasted nori, all optional
• 2 tablespoons finely diced white onion
• 2 scallions, sliced crosswise as thinly as possible
• Lime wedges

Directions

1. For the gyofun, add the dried chilies, if you’re using them, and the katsuobushi to a pan over medium heat. Toast them just until they smell fragrant, then transfer them to a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle and crush everything into a fine powder. Put it aside.
2. For the miso tare, combine the shoyu tare, miso paste and fresh sliced chilies, if using, in a small bowl. Stir until the mixture is fully blended, then set it aside.
3. To put the ramen bowls together, heat the paitan broth until it reaches a boil. At the same time, bring a separate large pot of unsalted water to a boil.
4. Pour one ladleful of the boiling water into each serving bowl so they warm up. Add the noodles to the pot of boiling water, stir them vigorously so they don’t clump together, and cook them according to the package directions or the recipe instructions.
5. While the noodles cook, pour the warming water out of the serving bowls. Add half of the miso tare mixture and half of the aroma oil to each bowl. Pour 1 1/2 cups (350ml) boiling paitan broth into each one. Set an immersion blender directly into each bowl and pulse 2 to 3 times, just until the broth comes together and turns a little foamy. Before you start assembling the bowls, you can fill one with an equivalent volume of water to make sure it won’t overflow when blended. You can also use a whisk to combine the broth, tare and aroma oil in each bowl instead.
6. Drain the cooked noodles, shaking away as much extra water as you can, and divide them between the bowls of hot broth. With chopsticks, pull the noodles up from the bowl and lay them back into the broth in a neat fold. Add any toppings you want, such as pork belly, a halved egg and/or nori sheets. Finish with the diced white onion and sliced scallions. Spoon 1 teaspoon chili gyofun, or more if you like, over each bowl. Serve right away, with lime wedges on the side.