Sometimes a steaming bowl of ramen with silky, thick broth hits the spot. But when it's muggy outside and the rain from that freak thunderstorm is evaporating off the pavement, hot stock and noodles are the last thing you want to eat. And let's not even think about the hours you'd have to spend sweating and stirring in your cramped flatshare kitchen. But Ken Yamada, co-owner of London's renowned noodle joint Tonkotsu, has a hot (or should that be cool?) tip for you: ditch the stock and made ramen salad instead.
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I visit Yamada at the East London outpost of Tonkotsu and already, things are feeling chilled."It's really cold in here today because someone left the air conditioning on last night," he explains. "But the salad will still be really tasty. Because each element is chilled, it's really refreshing. It's called hiyashi chuka which literally translates from Japanese as 'cold Chinese.'"
Ingredients for miso and mushroom ramen salad. All photos by the author.
You can add all manner of veggies, meat, and fish to a ramen salad but today, Yamada's toppings of choice are a soy and sake marinated egg, shiitake and shimeji mushrooms, julienne cucumber, chopped cherry tomatoes, pea shoots, and white sesame seeds.Then, of course, there are the noodles. As the restaurant's noodle machine whirrs away at the far end of the restaurant underneath the motto, "If you don't make your own noodles, you're just a soup shop," Yamada drops a bundle into boiling water.
Fresh ramen noodles.
"The key to this dish is really the noodles. The structure of the noodles holds the whole dish together," he explains. "Because we make the noodles here fresh, I think it just enhances that bite and elasticity of the dish. That amazing bite is what you're after."
Ken Yamada, co-owner of London's Tonkotsu, cooks the noodles.
He continues, "By cooking the noodles longer than you would for hot ramen and then chilling them, it enhances their elasticity."But if you can't get hold of fresh ramen noodles, don't sweat it. Those dried packets will work just fine too.
The rinsed noodles.
When the noodles are ready, they're rinsed to stop them cooking any further and prevent clumping. "Now," says Yamada. "It's time to build the salad. Don't hang about because the noodles need to be served quickly."
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Soy dressing forms the base for the noodle salad.
On top of the cold noodles goes a drizzle of here's-some-I-made-earlier soy dressing—a mixture of dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, granulated sugar, and sesame oil. The sautéed and now-chilled mushrooms are up next followed by cucumber and tomatoes.
Yamada adds shiitake and shimeji mushrooms.
Yamada slices into the marinated egg and reveals the secret to achieving that hard-boiled texture and still slightly gooey yolk."Eggs are cooked for six minutes and 30 seconds from boiling," he advises. "And if you want the gooey yolk bit in the middle, shake the egg before dropping it into the water."
White sesame seeds are sprinkled on top.
He delicately arranges pea shoots and sprinkles over white sesame seeds.RECIPE: Miso and Mushroom Ramen Salad"Presentation is important, like with any dish really. You don't want to just throw it in," he says, taking the finished dish out onto the sunny terrace.
Mushroom and miso ramen salad.
"You see, it's perfect for the summer months. The sauce has got great acidity from the rice vinegar and soy base. All of the ingredients are refreshing and pleasingly cold. You'll probably eat this in two minutes."There's no doubt about that.