My Grandma Chie’s Ramen 🍜 Recipe ✨

By request, I am sharing My Grandma Chie’s Ramen Recipe !

Her recipe is simple and healthy. And it’s super easy. You don’t need any experience nor skills. You just need a little bit of patience 😆

It always turns out tasty but the thing is, it’s NEVER as good as hers… I guess it’s a law of life!

CONTENTS | もくじ

Let’s Get Started ~ Ingredients

SOUP STOCK*

1-2 Chicken bones (preferably a whole chicken bone)
1-2 Pork bones (shoulder, leg, neck, hip and rib bones… any kind)
1 sheet of Seaweed “Konbu”　(soak it in the water beforehand. You’ll use the water, too)
1 Green onion（Green part）
1-2 Onions (whole)
1-2 Carrots (whole / no need to peel)

*the amount really is depending on the size of the pot you use. Fill it up! 😆

CHA-SHU

(also the broth becomes the sauce for the soup)

1.5~2kg Pork chunk**
1.5 Garlic cloves
1.5 Ginger roots
8 TBS Salt
Soy Sauce

**My grandma used to use “shoulder loin” for the Cha-shu. If you want a lean result, stick to my grandma’s recipe! Otherwise, you can use the head part which has more fat and it turns out juicier.

In the US, I used to get bones from Farmer’s markets (owned by Central/South-American folks or Asian peeps).

In Spain, I go to my usual butcher in the market but he doesn’t always have them. If he has them, I never know if it’s a beef bone or a pork bone. I prefer pork but, of course, “me shall no complain…” if he gives me a beef bone 😅. Chicken is sold separately from the meat shop so I ask for chicken bones at the poultry shop.

This time the chicken man gave me a quail bone instead of chicken bones…😅 Never be afraid to improvise!

Also, I sometimes throw in some Hueso salado (“salao”), Espinazo, or Costilla salada (“sala’a”)… They are salted and cured bones that Spaniards use to make Puchero (Spanish white stew like soup dish). I wash them beforehand to get rid of the salt and added to the soup pot.

Puchero is a bit similar to “Tonkotsu Ramen”. You can use the broth of Puchero and add soy sauce (or Cha-shu sauce from this recipe) and you can make your “instant” ramen soup! Another quick fix for ramen lovers 🤩

Here’s How-to

Let’s Make Soup Stock!

In a large deep pot, put all the ingredients (seaweed “Konbu” and its water as well). Fill with the water to cover all.
Put on the high heat first. Right before it starts boiling, lower the heat (don’t let it bubbled up).
Take out the seaweed “Konbu”.
Cook without having it bubbled up (over-boiling).
Keep eye on and getting rid of all impurity that comes out and cook for 2-3 hours.

That’s it! (I told you, it’s super easy 😆)

Remember：To make the soup stock transparent, don’t let it over-boiled (bubbled up)! The same goes for when you reheat the stock to prepare another bowl of ramen.

Now on to CHA-SHU

While cooking the soup stock, let’s make Cha-shu meat. This one is super easy, too.

Smash the garlic and peel them. Slice the ginger (wash well and no need to peel).
No need to tie the meat with the butcher’s twine!
Put all the ingredients in a pot.
Add water to cover the meat.
Start cooking and add salt as well.
First on the hight heat right up to the boiling point. Then lower to the mid-high heat and cook for 40~50 minutes. Never let it fully boiled.
Turn the meat 1~2 times while cooking.
See if it’s done by poking (if the juice is clear, it’s done).
Once you take the pot off from the heat, leave the meat in the broth for 20-30 minutes.
Take out the meat to store in the fridge. Keep the broth which is the sauce for the ramen soup.

Sometimes I buy Chuleta (head part). *In this case, I sear the meat to seal the juice before adding water.

Remember：Don’t put the lid on while cooking! Once it starts boiling, taste the sauce. It should be quite concentrated and salty. Slice the amount of Cha-Shu you want each time you prepare a bowl of ramen (don’t have them pre-sliced).

Do you know “Otoshi buta”? It’s a loose lid that fits inside the pot. You can use an aluminum foil and make a hole in the middle to create one. Loosely cover the meat with it so that the steam escapes from the side and from the hole but the meat surface doesn’t get dried and the sauce goes around the meat evenly…

Let’s Cheat!

I often use angel hair pasta instead of the proper ramen noodles. In the US, it was easy to find the fresh (or dried) ramen noodles but here in Sevilla, I haven’t seen good Japanese-style ones. I have made them from scratch, too, but it takes lots of time and muscles 😅…

So let’s use this trick! I add baking soda to a pot of boiling water and boil the pasta. One of my Japanese friends gave me this idea and I am forever grateful to her!!!

It definitely becomes more like Ramen noodles!

I think (!) baking soda makes the pasta surface a bit more sticky so the sauce/soup sticks to the noodles. If you want to make “Yakisoba”, you could also prepare noodles using this process.