Ramen Done Right

Everybody loves ramen, right? Sure. Now here's a better way to make it.

Hint: you know that sodium bomb they call a "flavor packet?" Throw that fucker away, you won't need it.

Fuzzy measurements as always; add or subtract things to taste. This is for one big bowl.

Oil and mirin for sauteing onion and garlic
A handful of sliced onion (fairly thin)
About 1/2 tsp minced ginger (pickled is fine, that’s what I used)
Minced garlic, up to a clove or so
About 1 1/2 cups water
Memmi soup base (or dashi if you have it), about 3-4 tbsp (more or less to taste)
About 1/2 tbsp. miso
1 tsp sweet Thai chili sauce if you have some, if not just leave it out
Half a sheet or so of nori
1 egg
1 package GOOD ramen (not the 10-for-$1 shit, look in the Asian food section and get the Sapporo Ichiban–it’s all of half a dollar more, good grief, you can splurge)
1/2 avocado
4-5 medium shrimp, peeled (fun fact: I have not yet made this ramen without dropping at least one shrimp on the floor)
Green onion, chopped

Heat up some oil in a pot and throw in your onion, garlic, and ginger; add a splash of mirin and saute until the onion goes a little brownish around the edges. Pour in water, scrape good brown residue off bottom of pot and mix it in. Add memmi/dashi, miso, and Thai chili sauce if you have it, stir well, bring to a boil. Put the whole, unbroken egg in the pot, throw some nori in (leave it in big pieces, you’re going to fish it out later) cover, reduce heat, and simmer gently for twenty minutes or so. Check on it once in a while to make sure there’s still plenty of liquid and roll the egg around a little.

After the twenty minutes or so, take out the nori, take out the egg and peel it (don’t cut it up yet), and return the whole naked boiled egg to the pot to soak up flavor. Go ahead and put in your ramen noodles and shrimp now. While they’re cooking, slice up the avocado and chop up the green onion.

When the noodles are as done as you like, dump the soup into a bowl, slice up the egg and lay it and the avocado slices on top, and sprinkle green onion over it all. IT IS DELICIOUS.

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