Tantanmen Ramen

Pork Topping

• 100 grams pork mince
• ½ tbsp hoisin sauce
• ½ tbsp oyster sauce
• ½ tbsp light soy sauce

Sesame Taré

• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp shichimi Japanese mixed chilli powder
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp sesame paste/ tahini
• 1 teaspoon pure sesame oil

Tatanmen broth 

• 2 spring onions, roughly chopped
• ½ thumb sized piece ginger, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns, finely ground
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp chilli bean sauce
• 2L chicken stock

To Serve

• 130 grams fresh ramen noodles
• Spinach (or mustard greens)

• Sear the ginger, garlic, sichuan peppercorns and spring onions for the broth base. Add the soy sauce and chilli bean sauce and allow to caramelise slightly before adding the stock. Then boil the stock for 30 minutes.

• While that simmers away, marinade the pork with the hoisin, soy and oyster sauce, and set aside. Mix the shichimi and sesame seeds in a bowl. Heat up the vegetable oil in a pan, once smoking hot take a tablespoon of oil and add it to the sesame seed mix. Pause before adding the oil, allowing a few seconds for it to cool down, so it doesn't burn the shichimi. Now add the rest of the Taré ingredients to the shichimi and sesame seeds. Mix and set aside.

• Now sear the pork mince in the pan with the remaining hot oil. Blanch the noodles and spinach in boiling water, and plate up. The Taré goes into the bowl first, followed by a few ladles of the soup, then the noodles and spinach, and finally the pork. Enjoy!