How to make REAL Japanese ramen from scratch

As a person living in Japan, I feel sad at how ramen is treated in the west. It is considered the epitome of junk food; a greasy, carcinogenic mess, lacking in any nutrients whatsoever and only to be eaten as a last resort or as a college student...
Here in its home country, ramen is, if not the healthiest thing around, at least something that you can eat every day and not get sick. And of course, the taste is incomparable.

This recipe will teach you how to make true ramen from scratch, with little more cost than a instant ramen packet (depending on what you do for the soup). It does take some extra effort, but if you enjoy cooking and know how to knead things, it should be fine!

Step 1: Gather your ingredients

You will need:
3/4 Cups Flour (see below)
1 egg
~3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
~1 tbsp water (depending on flour and humidity)

In Japan, we do not have all-purpose flour, only low gluten and high gluten flours, which we have to mix. If you do have easy access to these flours, you should mix about 1 part low gluten to 2 parts high gluten. Otherwise, just use all-purpose flour. It's not vital to the noodles.

This dough doubles or even quadruples very well, although the dough becomes harder to knead.

Comments

[philbert1]

The author's remarks about Ramen in the US being unhealthy and carcinogenic is unfounded. The gist of this recipe is how to make noodles . . which, in and of themselves are just a starchy filling . . not necessaritly healthy as a food choice by itself. . . and then salt and bouillion as additives for the mix, are not healthy either . . A cursory search online can give you recipes on how to make noodles . . nothing special here . . the most important thing for a healthy and delicious Ramen is ingredients . . the author suggests just tossing a flavor packet from one of those Ramen packages included in the cheap Raman . . well . . for everyone's information . . that is the unknown factor in store bought raman and is the carcinogenic part if there is one . . it'd be nice if the author was teaching people how to make a flavorful ramen and healthy one by instructing on how to prepare and add meat and vegetable ingredients. . . too bad. . this is just a recipe to make noodles. You'd be better served to buy noodles pre-made and learn how to prepare ingredients.

[jkerchelich]

Homemade vs store bought ramen 

[whitephatt]

I'm not sure they realize that chewing is part of the digestive process..

Whole ramen noodles vs obviously chewed home made noodles.

And some how that is suppose to equate to 'death by preservatives' or whatever their over all argument is.

..Seriously guys? -_-

[ajocys]

this is much more tasty and healthy, because you dont know what they put in the instant packets.

[Inquisitively]

Maybe price wise but seriously, taste wise, health and wellness wise it is incomparable.

I haven't given this recipe a try yet but I'm going to. We eat ramen a lot in my house hold because we love soups. But because it's so bad for you we've been trying to get away from it and then end up coming right back. So I think this will be a great alternative of sorts. Thank you muchly for the recipe and step by step!

[REA]

when K mart was here, they sold it 10 cents each. we used to buy them by the shipping box full.

[superMacaroni]

I've seen it at wal-mart.

[speeddemon92]

i don't know where you're from but here in the usa they're 15 -20 cents a pack..... btw neryam, good instructable i think ima go makes some now....

[elxia]

Im from usa ...mabye its because i get mine from post

[speeddemon92]

when i get mine i either get a 12 pack from walmart for $2 or a 6 pack from dollar general for $1

[toaster769]

you can get the better versions of the instant packets that would be better to compare at .99 to $1.49.
BUT the time is still a huge difference.
still though its nice to see how its done from scratch.

[barneytomb]

High Gluten flour is bread flour.

[pangel1]

Watching Naruto made me want to learn how to make it. Wish I had chop sticks though.

[Kakashi-senpai]

Yeah totally.Watching Naruto makes you want to eat ramen...I don't want to make it 'cause it's going to be awful-.-But I really wanna go to a Japanese restaurant.

[jkerchelich]

give it a try, i have horrible cooking skills and mine still turned out alright

[Duhamhim]

240 I find it very difficult watching Naruto without Ramen now
I'm going to try and make it
your local Chinese food store has free chopsticks but they're Chinese chopsticks not Japanese

[sharvey6]

Ditto!! I'm watching eps 213 now ^_^ I can't wait until the entire Shippuden is English dubbed! So far I have eps 1-90, but I know there are more.. waiting is such a PAIN! -_- I want to visit Japan and taste REAL ramen!! But until then, I think I'll try to make this.. ^_^

[cyingling]

hey me 2 LOL

watching episode 198 right now

[Kakashi-senpai]

Watching episode 100 Shippuuden right now.^.^

[shadow619]

i was wondering how many servings and calories were in this

[maeloulou]

i make two servings with one dough but you might use it as a single serving, it's a bit small for two servings but i put so many things in my broth, the meat, eggs and veggies really compensate for it!

[pavo6503]

Naruto? Never heard of it. This is almost the exact same recipe for pasta my great grandmother taught us. She was from Italy, but I guess they learned how to make pasta from the Japanese. whatever, it tastes great and you can get by on a single serving. Small world...

[cosborne3]

Yeah, not to step on anybody's toes, but I personally feel you're not missing much with Naruto. It's an anime about ninjas...And kunoichi, for those who don't know, that's the term for women trained in ninjitsu. Not a fan of the show. Don't flame me for disliking it.

I'd also like to ask the author a question while I'm at it. Is there any way to make the noodles curly? I know that shoyu or soy-sauce ramen typically uses curly noodles, and I'd like to try making it as close to the typical method as I can.

[maeloulou]

I actually made mine curly by mistake, i simply left them out a little and they dried while being all tangled together and when i cooked them they kept that kinda curly shape! I'm sure if you place them so they are curly and let most of the moisture evaporate before you cook them (or place them in your fridge or freezer) then they'll remain curly after being boiled!

Let me know if that worked!

[Thekiller578]

try curling the noodles before you boil them, i noticed that they stay the same when you boil them, i could be wrong but its my guess

[maeloulou]

OMG I tried this recipe weeks ago because watching naruto made me hungry and kinda curious about ramen.
Now i've become addicted and my friends are pressuring me to give them some broth + ramen noodles for them to bring home! ( -_-')
I am a student and all my student friends seem to no longer want instant-noodles because i was nice enough to invite them over to try something else!

[ElvenChild]

Could you use the same dough to make udon noodles?

[maeloulou]

first time i tried this recipe i cut it too thick and it became like udon noodles when i boiled them so i guess you could use the same dough yes...

[RaynoGernsback]

Nice noodle recipe! In terms of from-scratch broth, I used to live in Yokohama where they are crazy about pork bone broth, seasoned with salt. I make a big batch of this tonkotsu stock every now and again, then freeze it in one-bowl portions. In other parts of Japan, they add kombu (kelp) or toasted dried fish to the stock. In frozen Hokkaido, they use miso and lard. I think it's best to kick it old school:

Take some pork spare ribs and place them in a heavy pan. You can add the outside layers of some leeks (welsh onion) if you like. Cover with water and bring to the boil. A grey scum will rise to the surface. Dump the water. Cover again. Dump. Cover a third time, reduce the heat and put a lid on. Leave it blipping away for a few hours. Remove and discard the pork, then strain the stock. Season with salt. Add cooked noodles, boiled eggs, blanched spinach, shredded leeks, nori sheets and/or thin slices of roast pork.

[priya12992]

This recipe is awesome....for the broth this is what I did:

olive oil
4 cloves galic finely chopped
5 scallions chopped
5 skinless/boneless chicken thighs
1 container beef stock (the boxed kind)
2 cups water 1/2 cup mirin wine
salt pepper to taste/ or soy sauce in lieu of salt

get a big pot
sautee garlic in olive oil for 2 minutes
add chicken and brown slightly on both sides
add everything else and simmer for about and hour

boil and cook noodles *your recipe*

add broth to bowls then add noodles *garnish with cilantro* viola!!!

It was a hit!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

[OrganicJunkie]

This sounds delicious! I think I'll have to try that this weekend

[madtown_jeremy]

This looks fabulous! My daughter and I LOVE ramen and lately I've started picking up the more expensive brands like Shin Ramyun, Ichiban and those rockin' Mama noodles, but I can't wait to make them from scratch with some home cooked stock. Thanks so much for this!!

[asiantortoise]

I love Shin Ramyun! This might be a bit of a challenge for me but i think i can handle it :)

[Chris01125]

how did you mix them together? like, what did you use? a fork? your hands? cuz yours is really yellow and mine always turns a yellowish pale white, and theres alot of left over flour

[oddzerozero]

the color difference might be due to the difference between the kinds of eggs you use. in japan they have fresher higher quality eggs then most people do in the usa. though now a days you can get our hands on free range eggs, it's even better if you can get to a farmer's market and get farm fresh free range. the yolks are a a very bright and rich color, almost orange.

[andross]

Yolk color has little to do with egg freshness. The yolk will actually appear lighter with fresher eggs as the albumen clears with age. The chicken's diet affects color most. If you feed a chicken nothing but white corn, the yolk will be almost white.

[sergeant82d]

I'm sorry, but that's not quite entirely correct. We raise chickens (along with Geese, Ducks, a Turkey, Cows, Pigs and two large gardens... Sheep are next!), and the albumen is the egg *white*... the yolk on our (free range) chickens are much much darker than any commercial egg. And the flavor is vastly better also.

As you say, the diet that a hen eats is what affects the yolk color - and taste! - more than anything. What a roaming hen eats is varied and includes grass, weeds, seeds, bugs, and whatever interests them.

[DGP_Maluco]

Well it depends, if you buy eggs from a supermarket, the eggs turn out more pale, white, if you raise chickens you can be sure they will turn out yellow! Its called the difference between "homemade eggs" and "store eggs" how we call it in our language ;D (Portugal)

[felows]

your suppose to use your hands :] 

[DGP_Maluco]

Well, like most outside the cultural country's that do have ramen, in mine we don't, I never tried it but I really looking forward to try it, just made the first steps it wen't as described! Awsome, its resting now!

I never tried Ramen, hope I love it :)

Just need chopsticks :( IDK where to get some.. I know how to handle them but I never saw them for sale... And I don't have a restaurant near by where I could get some damn :)

Hope it turns out great! Its a healthy way to eat!