#missing日本 9: Ramen (again)

I will write about this soon but I thought of doing this quick post now. Even on my first trip to Tōkyō 4 years ago, I had a chance to sample halal ramen at the Tōdai shokudō and the tasty fish broth ramen at Menya Kaijin. I have also managed to sample Mentei Naritaya’s all halal options including their shoyu ramen once at Asakusa back in 2016, and then in Shinsaibashi, Ōsaka on my recent trip earlier this month.

I have been following Halal Media Japan’s Facebook page for the past couple of years, and came across Samurai Ramen, which is halal and vegan-friendly. A product from this Japanese company called Funfair Co. Ltd. which even opened its own ramen shop at AEON Mall Tebrau City in JB. I didn’t do any food shopping when I was in Ōsaka but I thought about getting some via Amazon Japan a few days ago. Until last weekend when I went to London’s own Japan Centre. A fiver a packet (which serves two), which is a bit dear if you compare to Maggi/Samyung/Nissin but I really wanted to try it out. So, together with a packet of nori squares, I bought four packs.

For my first ever attempt, I wanted to do a chashu-styled chicken ramen. I had some chicken thigh fillets which I marinaded in Habhal’s kicap manis and a dash of teriyaki sauce, following which I shallow fried them, and sliced them. Can lah. For the ajitama, I cheated. Not only you are supposed to boil them in such a way to have the yolk soft/jammy, these eggs are then marinaded in shoyu to give it that brownish sheen. I cheated by just making sure the yolk was soft/jammy. Cold egg from the fridge, plop it gently in boiling water for 7 minutes, and plop it out in ice cold water. It worked. Thank you, Google.

The Samurai Ramen pack has two separate rolls of dried ramen, and two sachets of the broth’s essence. Basically just boil 400 ml of water, add the ramen and the broth essence. Once done, I laid out two large squares of nori in a bowl, and then poured the ramen and broth into it. Lay the chicken slices in a row, and the two ajitama halves, and garnish the ramen with chopped negi/spring onions. Itadakimasu!