Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the Chicken Broth (Makes 6 to 8 servings)
- 4 to 5 lb organic/cage free whole chicken
- 3 lb chicken feet
- 1 lb chicken back bones
- 1 cup sake
- 25 cups cold water
- 2 Tbsp chicken powder
For the Tare (Makes 6 to 8 servings)
- 1 oz kombu, dried kelp
- 1 bulb garlic, cut in half
- 2 oz ginger, sliced
- 1 large leek, cut in half, wash it through, prepare only white part
- 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 cup sake
- 3 cups cold water
- 2 Tbsp sea salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 4 to 8 Tbsp gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes (optional)
For the Chicken Meatballs
- 2 remaining chicken breast, removed skin
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut it into small pea size
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 2 Tbsp ground sesame seeds
- 1 egg
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
For the Crispy Chicken Chashu
- 2 remaining chicken thighs and leg meat with skin on
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
For the Ramen Bowl (Makes 2 bowls with below ingrecietns)
- 10 oz napa cabbage, cut into bite size
- 2 portions of fresh, frozen (5 oz each) or dried (3 oz each) ramen noodles
- 2 to 4 cloves garlic, grated
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 4 Tbsp ground sesame seeds
- 2 ramen eggs
- yuzu kosho, optional
- Chili oil, optional
Instructions
- First thing is first, let’s cut up our whole chicken! Make sure sharpen your knife for easier process! With the chicken backbone side up, pull each wing away from the body, cut through joint and detach the wings completely.
- The chicken breast side up, pull each leg away from the body, then slice through skin between the breast and the drumstick. Bend each thighbone until pops and cut through to detach the legs completely.
- To debone the breast meat, find the highest part of the breast, using tip of your knife, cut lengthwise into the highest part of the breast. Cut along one side of the breastbone and separate the meat from the bone. Same thing to the other side. Remove skin, set aside.
- To debone the leg and the thigh, place the leg and the thigh skin side down. Shallow slice the middle to open the meat and keep slicing both side of the bones. When you can see the bones clearly, place your knife underneath of the thigh bone cut outwards to detach the bone. Same thing to the leg bone. Carefully detach the joint of thigh and the leg bone without cutting though the meat or skin. Cover the leg meat with a plastic wrap and keep it in a refrigerator until ready to use.
- Cut through the rib cage and then shoulder joints to separate breast bones from back bones.
- Place the back bone, the breast bone, the wings, the leg and the thigh bones to a large pot along with chicken feet and extra back bones. Pour enough cold water to cover the bones and let it soak for 30 mins. Drain and rinse one more time then drain completely.
- Now, pour 25 cups water and 1 cup sake to the chicken and bring it to boil over high heat. When it starts boiling you will see lots of scums and dirty foams, so skim out all with a skimmer. It will takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium, cover and let it simmer for 5 hours. After 3 hours by, start smashing the bones with a potato masher every 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, let’s make tare, the seasoning sauce for the ramen!
In a pot, place all the ingredients for the tare and bring it boil over high heat. Let it hard boil for 10 minutes then reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly. Drain through a fine strainer and squeeze all the juice out form the veggies. This is shio tare (salt tare) and if you want to make spicy tare as well, add 4 tablespoons of guchugaru to the half of tare in a separated bowl. - To make chicken meatballs, cut chicken breast into a rough chunks and place in a food processor with butter. Pulse 8 to 10 times or until the chicken is finely ground and butter has incorporated well.
- Transfer ground chicken to a mixing bowl, and add garlic, ginger, starch, soy sauce, mirin, black pepper, egg and ground sesame seeds. Mix well until it’s tacky. Cover with a plastic wrap and keep it in a refrigerator until ready to use.
- When the chicken broth has only 30minutes left, this is the time start smashing the bones like you mean it! Then pour 1 more coup of water and chicken powder. Cover, let it finish cooking.
- Drain the chicken broth through a strainer and drain one more time with a fine strainer. Pour the chicken broth back to the now-clean-pot or a new pot and bring back to boil.
- When it starts boiling hard over high heat, dropping meatballs by scooping with a melon scoop in to bouth. Stir to make sure meatballs are not stick to each others. When the soup starts boiling, reduce heat to low and keep it hot.
- High broil the chicken leg meat (skin side up) on the medium rack for 10 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. Slice chicken chashu and set aside.
- Blench napa cabbage in salted boiling water. Cook ramen noodles in the same salted boiling water by following the directions of the package you are using. Drain.
- Pour 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of tare (depending on how salty you like your ramen to be) and hot chicken broth into serving bowls. Add noodles into bowls and stir so the noodles will coated evenly with the broth.
- Arrange the blenched napa cabbage, meatballs, chicken chashu, green onions, ground sesame seeds and egg on top of the ramen. Add yuzukosho or chili to your taste. Enjoy!
- Cook Time: 5 hours