Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Ramen Omiyage

I love ramen.  Not the cup ramen from college days, but the really good stuff.  The type where the noodles are fresh and the soup broth has simmered for hours.  Since Japan's a 12 hour flight, NYC's a 4 hour drive, and DC lacks a ramen shop, my ramen cravings usually go unassuaged.  Luckily my coworkers know my favorite type and they bring back fantastic omiyage for me.
Nagahama ramen is from Kyushu.  Nagahama and Hakata are districts in Fukuoka that created their own style of ramen.  The noodles are thin and straight, and  the tonkotsu broth is made from pork bones cooked over high heat for a long time.  My boyfriend's favorite type of ramen is shoyu flavored, and luckily this ramen set had a tonkotsu-shoyu flavor soup, a little something for both of us.
 On the right side of the box is a Mikoshi, which reminds me of Aki Matsuri (Fall Festivals) in Japan.
 We didn't have beni shouga (pickled ginger) or moyashi (bean sprouts) on hand, so I improvised with carrots, spinach, corn, hanjuku tamago (egg cooked just long enough for the white part to be firm and egg yolk still runny), sesame-soy pork and sesame seeds.
Fresh ramen noodles cook very quickly. 
The tonkotsu-shoyu broth was much lighter than normal tonkotsu and very enjoyable.  

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