Cooking with Babbit and a cute little T-rex

Transcription

1 Cooking with Babbit and a cute little T-rex We re back, and with some warm comfort food for these bitter winter days Ramen An awesome vegetarian ramen broth, with an optional Ginger pork topping Steamed Green Tea cake A lovely green tea flavoured sponge cake with a red bean topping As always let hope for some full bellies and happy faces!

2 Ramen (serves ~8 people with small bowls) For the dashi 2 cups water 1 sachet powdered kombu 4 dried shiitake mushrooms For Soup 4 tsp roasted sesame seeds, ground 8 cloves garlic, squashed and chopped 2" ginger, finely chopped 4 spring onions (white part), chopped 8 tsp sesame oil 6 tsp chili bean paste 8 tsp miso 4 tbsp sake 8 tsp soy sauce 4 cups unsweetened soy milk 2 cups dashi (from above) Dash of white pepper Then 4 lots of ramen noodles Super toppings! 2 handfulls of beansprouts 1 handfull bamboo shoots, sliced Sweetcorn from 1 ear 4 shitake mushrooms (from dashi), chopped 2 baby bok choi 4 spring onions (green part) chopped 1 sheet nori, cut into 4 Optional, ginger pork topping 8 thin pork loin cuts pounded flat or slices of unsmoked bacon 3 tbsp sake 3 tbsp mirin 2 tbsp soy sauce 2 tsp honey 1 clove garlic, squashed 1 tsp ginger, grated ¼ onion, grated 1 spring onion chopped

3 I had always wanted to make Ramen in cooking with Babbit, but have to admit I was stuck I simply could not get the flavour I wanted in an hour, without resorting to exotic techniques. However, this recipe, adapted slightly from Nami s recipe for ramen at justonecookbook.com has proven just how wrong I was. More so, its even vegetarian friendly. The only meat used is if you want to add some as a topping! 1) Add 2 cups of water, 1 sachet of dried powdered kombu and 4 dried shitake mushrooms to a small saucepan. And let them sit. 2) Prepare your garlic, ginger, spring onions and the toppings you want. Optional ginger pork topping for those wanting some meat i) trim the pork loins, score and hammer flat (cosplayers, work off that pchan stress!). sprinkle a little pepper over the meat ii) mix the sake, mirin, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, onion and spring onion in a bowl iii) use a frying pan get the pork golden brown on each side, then add a big slosh of the liquid, and continue frying and turning until it caramelises and coats the loins Leave to cool a little before using 3) Bring the small saucepan from step one to a boil over medium heat. Once it starts boiling stop and set aside. 4) Take a large saucepan, add the sesame oil and apply a medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger and spring onions, stirring for a few mins until they release their aroma. 5) Add the Miso and chilli bean paste. Stir continually for a couple of mins. 6) Add the sake to deglaze the pan, releasing any bits of chilli, garlic etc from the bottom of the pan. 7) Add the sesame and soy, cook for another 1-2mins to make a sticky paste.

4 8) Slowly pour in the soy milk, stirring as you go to dissolve the paste. 9) Add a generous pinch of pepper. 10) Remove the shitake mushrooms from the dashi saucepan (we ll cut these up for the topping), and pour the dashi into the big saucepan, and keep over a medium heat until hot. Congratulations you now have your ramen soup taste it pretty good for less than 1hr! And now lets use it: 11) Boil a kettle, put the ramen noodles in a bowl and pour the water over them. Separate out the noodles, and leave for ~2mins. 12) Meanwhile, add the bean sprouts and sweetcorn to the soup and let them cook for a couple of mins. 13) Drain the noodles and split between 8 bowls or more if you feel generous 14) Pour some soup with sprouts and corn over the noodles in each bowl so it just covers them 15) Add the rest of the toppings more points for being artistic! Then of course FEED HUNGRY DINOSAURS

5 Steamed Green Tea cakes (makes 8-12) After something so filling, time for a light, tasty desert, especially for all the matcha fans out there. 5 tsp green tea powder ¾ cup castor sugar 2 cups flour 3.5 tsp baking powder 2 eggs Red beans ¾ cup water Pinch of salt Paper cups 1) Mix together the flour, green baking powder, tea powder and the pinch of salt. 2) Separate the eggs, and gently mix the egg yolks with water in another bowl. 2) In a third bowl whisk the egg whites and sugar until foamy. 3) Fold in the flour and green tea powder, then fold in the egg whites. 4) Separate the mixture into paper cups. Cover the surface of each cups with red beans. 5) Steam for 15mins and enjoy!