Freshly returned from Austin, I was obviously very inspired by tex-mex flavors when making this dish. I had my first birria ramen from a food truck called Los Danzantes and realized the intersection between Japanese and Mexican flavors can actually make a lot of sense. Enter Tsukemen: a dipping ramen where the noodles are served cold with a warm side of broth. With the looming heat of a NYC summer in mind, I take shortcuts so as not to have to spend a lot of time over a hot stove, while also delivering a lot of refreshing acidity in this preparation.
Noodle texture is a highlight of this dish so don't over cook them and if you can't get/make them fresh, just make sure they're higher quality because you want them to hold onto the sauce when dipped. This also means your sauce needs to be a little thicker so it clings well to the noodles. For me, the consistency of tomatillos are perfect for this.
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| Tomatillos, quartered |
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| Tomatillos after roasting |
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| Sauce, ready to blitz |
Makes 2 servings.
- 2 bundles of high quality ramen noodles
Dipping sauce ingredients:
- 4 tomatillos, quartered
- 1 Tbsp Miso paste
- 1 Tbsp Tahini
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp of sea salt
- 1 tsp fish sauce (if omitting, add 1/2 tsp more salt)
- half shallot
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup of packed cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1-2 tsp of yuzu kosho (to your taste)
- 1/2 cup hot water
- bouillion cube for the water (i use Better than Bouillion roasted chicken or mushroom)
Topping:
- handful of torn oyster mushrooms (other kinds work too)
- 3 scallions, cut in 2 inch pieces
- other half shallot
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 link of lap cheong sausage (optional)
- 1/4 sake or white wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Mike's Hot Honey
Other optional toppings:
- ramen egg/ boiled egg
- thinly sliced cucumbers
- bonito flakes
- cilantro
- really whatever you want
- First, roast or broil your tomatillos in a cast iron pan. I used my broiler but would use an outdoor grill if I had one in the summer to avoid dying.
- While those tomatillos get some color, pan fry your torn mushrooms in oil with the scallions, half shallot, minced garlic, and chinese sausage if you're using it.
- Cook ramen noodles according to instructions and then run them under cold water to stop the cooking process. Add to their own bowl or plate and set aside.
- Once your mushrooms have browned and are a little crispy, deglaze the hot pan with the sake and soy and stir until all the liquid has evaporated. Turn off heat and set aside.
- Once the tomatillos have broken down a bit and are browned or charred, add all the dipping sauce ingredients to a blender and blitz until smooth and color is a nice uniform green. Taste for saltiness, and if the consistency is too thick, add a little water at a time. The consistency should NOT be runny. Serve in a bowl and top with the mushrooms, drizzling them with the hot honey.
- Dip your cold noodles and enjoy! Note: If you still have a little broth left after finishing your noodles you can do 'soup-wari' where you add a little dashi or even water to thin out the thick soup so you can drink it.
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| Dip! |
I used the rest of this sauce to make mazeman the next day which is a very similar dish except the sauce is on the bottom and noodles places on top with garnishes, then you mix it all together.
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| Mazeman style where the sauce is underneath |
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| Mazeman once mixed |