Description
Creamy chicken ramen (Tori Paitan) is easier to make than you think! Learn how to create deep, milky broth and juicy toppings at home!
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
Shio 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, prepared only white part
- 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 cup sake
- 3 cups cold water
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 1 tsp msg, optional
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 to 8 tbsp gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes (optional)
Chicken Meatballs
- 2 remaining chicken breasts, removed skin
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut 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
Crispy Chicken Chashu
- 2 remaining chicken thighs and leg meat with skin on
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
Arrange a Bowl of Ramen (Makes 2 bowls with the ingredients listed below)
- 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’s first, let’s cut up our whole chicken!
Make sure to sharpen your knife to make the process easier!
With the chicken backbone side up, pull each wing away from the body, cut through the joint, and detach the wings completely.
Flip the chicken breast-side up. Pull each leg away from the body, then slice through the skin between the breast and drumstick. Bend each thighbone until it pops, then cut through to detach the legs completely. - To debone the breast meat, find the highest part of the breast. Using the 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. Repeat on the other side. Remove the skin and set it aside.
- To debone the leg and thigh, place them skin-side down. Make a shallow slice down the middle to open the meat and continue slicing along both sides of the bones. Once the bones are clearly exposed, slide your knife under the thigh bone and cut outward to detach it. Do the same for the leg bone. Carefully detach the joint between the thigh and leg bone without cutting through the meat or skin. Cover the leg meat with plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Cut through the rib cage and then the shoulder joints to separate the breast bones from the backbones.
- Place the backbone, breastbone, wings, leg and thigh bones into a large pot, along with chicken feet and extra backbones. Pour in enough cold water to cover the bones and let them soak for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse thoroughly one more time, then drain completely.
- Now, pour 25 cups of water and 1 cup of sake into the pot with the chicken and bring it to a boil over high heat. When it starts boiling, you’ll see lots of scum and dirty foam—skim it all off with a skimmer. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and let it simmer for 5 hours. After 3 hours, start smashing the bones with a potato masher every 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, let’s make the tare, the seasoning sauce for the ramen - In a pot, place all the ingredients for the tare and bring it to a boil over high heat. Let it boil hard for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
- Strain through a fine strainer and squeeze out all the juices from the vegetables. This is your shio tare (salt tare). If you want to make a spicy version, mix 4 tablespoons of gochugaru into half of the tare in a separate bowl.
- Let’s make the chicken meatballs:
Cut chicken breast into rough chunks and place them in a food processor with butter. Pulse 8 to 10 times, or until the chicken is finely ground and the butter is well incorporated. - Transfer the ground chicken to a mixing bowl and add garlic, ginger, starch, soy sauce, mirin, black pepper, egg, and ground sesame seeds. Mix well until the mixture becomes tacky. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Finishing the broth and assembling the ramen:
When the chicken broth has about 30 minutes left, start smashing the bones like you mean it! Then add 1 more cup of water and some chicken powder. Cover and let it finish cooking. - Strain the chicken broth through a colander, then again through a fine strainer. Pour the strained broth back into the now-clean pot (or a new pot) and bring it back to a boil.
- When the broth is boiling hard over high heat, drop in the chicken meatballs using a melon scoop. Stir gently to make sure the meatballs don’t stick to each other. When the soup starts boiling again, reduce the heat to low and keep it hot.
- High broil the chicken leg meat (skin-side up) on the middle rack for about 10 minutes, or until fully cooked. Slice into chashu-style pieces and set aside.
- Blanch napa cabbage in salted boiling water. In the same water, cook your ramen noodles according to the package directions. Drain well.
- Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup of tare (depending on how salty you like your ramen) and hot chicken broth into each serving bowl. Add the noodles and stir so they’re evenly coated with the broth.
- Top each bowl with the blanched napa cabbage, chicken meatballs, chicken chashu, green onions, ground sesame seeds, and a ramen egg if desired. Add yuzukosho or chili to taste. Enjoy your creamy, flavorful chicken ramen!
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 hours
- Category: Rice & Noodles
- Cuisine: Japanese
