The Perfect Miso Chicken Ramen in 5 Easy Steps

Having a husband that goes thru cancer treatments away from home each month means a lot of fast food and restaurant trips. Expensive!!! Those meals add up quick. A trip to any local fast food joint for two meals is on average around twenty dollars, not to mention that it isn’t very healthy. There had to be a better way. Since we both love to cook, and are obsessed with trying new recipes, we decided that it was just cheaper and healthier to make our own meals out on the road. We started booking hotel rooms that included kitchen suites and starting bringing our own utensils, or using those provided by the hotel. The Houston area, near MD Anderson Cancer Center, is full of wonderful grocery stores just waiting for you to experience their wares. One of our favorites close by is a Fiesta. They are full of foreign food staples. The nearby Kroger is another one of our favorites, (probably because of the huge cheese display), and is where we purchased our supplies for the following recipe. (Check out our article: Tackle Your First Day at MD Anderson Like a Pro!)

Like most college students, I survived my first few semesters on a diet of Ramen Noodles. (Hey they were good!)  Once I found that making actual Japanese Ramen was more intricate and time consuming, I had to give it a try. Ramen broth can take hours to develop, but this easy recipe, using Miso Paste, will develop a deep, rich flavor in just 30 minutes.  [wprm-recipe-jump]

Lets start with a list of our ingredients:

Ingredients for our Easy Miso Chicken Ramen

Ingredients:

• Sesame Oil (2 tbs)
• Green Scallions
• Garlic Cloves (4 minced)
• Ginger Root  ( 1 tbs) (Or any grated fresh ginger)
• Water (6 cups)
• Miso Paste (5 tbs)
• Soy Sauce (Reduced Sodium if you prefer) (3 tbs)
• 1 pound or so of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (Diced into pieces)
• Large bunch of bok choy
• 4 oz of Chinese noodles
• 4 oz of Shiitake mushrooms (can add more if you want and your favorite mushroom) 
• Bean sprouts (Optional)
• Bamboo Shoots (Optional)
• Eggs

Step One: Mise en Place (What???) 

If you are familiar with any cooking shows you have probably heard the term “Mise en Place”  before. If not, Mise en Place is a french culinary term that means “putting in place” or basically setting yourself up before cooking, prepping your ingredients. So lets get our mise en place on!

Hard boil however many eggs you would like to garnish your finished soup with. We hard boiled a small 6 pack of eggs. (No waste!!)

Our eggs hard boiling

Next, prep all your veggies! Clean and chop up your mushrooms.

Chop up your mushrooms

Slice your scallions and separate the white ends from the green ends. (This will make sense later I promise)

Slice up your scallions and separate the white ends from the greens

Separated Scallion Greens

Mince up 4 cloves of garlic.

Grate 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger. (We had to use a peeler and chop up the peeled layers)

Cut up your chicken thighs into bite size pieces.

Next tackle that bok choy. Don’t be intimidated. Cut the thick end off your bok choy and wash all the leaves to get the dirt off. Cut each whole leaf down the middle into halves, and then cut those in half as well. This is the proper way to cut up bok choy for broths, etc.

Clean, whole leaf of bok choy

Bok choy leaf quarted into sections

Now, gather a bunch of those sections and chop into one inch pieces.

Chopped Bok Choy

Your mise en place is done! You rocked it right? Next we move on to Step 2:

Step 2: Sauté! (Another French word!)

Heat One tablespoon of your sesame oil in a large pot, on Medium High Heat. (Pot needs to be able to hold 6 cups of liquid). Sauté the white parts of your scallions, (See I told you it would make sense later!), garlic and ginger for around 2 minutes or so. This releases the fragrance of the ingredients while preserving the texture and the taste.

Sauté your scallions, ginger, and garlic.

Step 3: Add the liquids

Add six cups of water (chicken broth if you want it super strong), 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and 5 tablespoons of miso paste. Stir. Bring this broth to a boil uncovered.

Step 4: Add the protein (chicken in our case),  and bok choy (and other optional                       veggies).

Add your chicken and chopped bok choy to the broth. Add your noodles as well. *Note: (We cooked our noodles separately). If you have any other veggies add them to the broth as well. Bring it back to a boil. Reduce your heat to around medium and cook until your chicken is done, and the veggies are tender or to the consistency you want. This should only take around 5-10 minutes.

Our pot with everything added!

Step 5: Garnish!!!!!

Time to eat! Get yourself a big bowl of your miso chicken ramen. Cut your hard boiled eggs in half and place as many as you like in your bowl. Scatter the scallion greens across the top and you are done! Easy right? Me and my husband ate on this recipe for three days, and it only cost us less than twenty dollars to make.

Our finished bowl of Perfect Miso Chicken Ramen

Let us know if you try this recipe! We love feedback and welcome your comments. Enjoy!

 

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Perfect Miso Chicken Ramen

This is a rich and flavorful Chicken Ramen made in 5 easy steps using Miso Paste. Delight your taste buds with its developed deep flavor in 30 mins.

• 2 tbs Sesame Oil
• 4 cloves Garlic (Minced)
• 1 bunch Green Scallions (Sliced with whites and greens separated)
• 1 tbs Fresh Ginger Root (Minced or grated)
• 5 tbs Miso Paste
• 3 tbs Soy Sauce (Can use reduced Sodium)
• 1 head Bok Choy
• 1 pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thights (Cut up into bite size pieces)
• 4 oz Chinese Noodles (Can use noodles from store bought Ramen)
• 4 oz Shiitake Mushrooms (Can use any mushrooms, fresh reccomended)
• 6 cups Water
• 6 each Eggs (Hard Boiled)
• 1 can Bean Sprouts (Optional )
• 1 can Bamboo Shoots (Optional )

Step 1: Mise en Place

1. Hard Boil your desired amount of eggs to use as garnish for your finished soup.

   

2. Dice up your Mushrooms.

   

3. Slice and Separate your Green Scallions.

   

4. Grate your ginger, mince your garlic and chop up your chicken thighs into small, bite size pieces.
5. Cut your bok choy leaves into quarters, then chop them into 1 inch pieces.

   

Step 2: Saute

1. Heat 1 tbs of the Sesame Oil over medium high heat. Saute your scallion whites, garlic, and ginger for 1 to 2 minuets. This will bring out the fragrance.

   

Step 3: Add Your Liquids

1. Add the 6 cups of water, Soy Sauce, 1 tbs of Sesame Oil, and Miso Paste. Bring to a boil, uncovered, on medium high heat, 5 minutes or so.

Step 4: Add the Rest!

1. Add your chopped chicken pieces, bok choy, mushrooms, noodles and any other additions. Bring back to a boil and reduce to medium heat. Cook covered for an additional 5 to 10 minuets, or until your veggies are to your taste.

   

Step 5: Garnish and Enjoy!

1. Serve your Miso Chicken Ramen with slices of hard boiled eggs and sprinkle scallion green across the top. Enjoy!!!

   

For more flavor to your broth, use low sodium chicken broth in place of water.