Ingredients:
Broth:
2 onions, peeled and cut in half
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 bulbs of garlic (this is the whole head, not 2 cloves)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound cremini mushrooms (or white mushrooms), stems trimmed and cut in half
2 celery stalks, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 inch piece of ginger—for the broth you will need 4 slices of ginger—peel the ginger and once peeled use the peeler to peel off 4 slices—save the ginger—you will use it in the tare
1/2 head cabbage, sliced into large pieces
2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
2 pieces of kombu seaweed
12 cups water
Tare:
1 1/2 cups white miso
6 scallions, thinly sliced including green parts
Ginger that remains from the broth, grated
6 garlic cloves, grated
3 tablespoons mirin
1 1/2 tablespoons chili paste (I used sambal oelek, but you can use another type that you have on hand)
Toppings:
Scallions, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces, including green parts - about 3 per serving
Carrots, shredded - about 1/2 medium per serving
Bok choy, sliced into 1 inch pieces, sauteed in a small amount of sesame oil - about 1 head per serving
Firm tofu, flash fried or heated in the air fryer - about 1/4 package per seriving
Shichimi togarashi
1 ounce of ramen noodles per person—I used dried noodles from the Asian supermarket. You can use the fried ramen that comes in the packets at the regular grocery store. I haven’t seen fresh noodles, but heard that they are pretty amazing
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450. Place the onions and sweet potatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Using a sharp knife, slice 1/4 inch off the top of a whole heads of garlic to expose the individual cloves. Place on a large square of foil and wrap tightly or into a garlic roaster.
Place the onions, sweet potatoes and garlic in the oven and roast for 40 minutes until the sweet potatoes are done.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large stock pot over medium. Add the cremini mushrooms, celery, green onion, ginger and cabbage. Squeeze the roasted garlic from the bulbs and add to the pot along with the roasted onions. Saute for 10 minutes until the the vegetables cook down a bit. Add the sweet potatoes, dried shiitake, salt, pepper, kombu and water. Bring to a boil then lower heat, cover and simmer for one hour.
While the broth is cooking, combine all tare ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat for a few minutes until you the ginger, garlic and onion start to release their odors.
Prepare your toppings while the broth is simmering. You can get creative here and use whatever you like. If you are going to use bok choy, get this cooking about 15 minutes before the broth is scheduled to be done. Have a pot of water boiling for the ramen noodles and cook them about 5 minutes before the broth is scheduled to be done—drain but don’t rinse them when finished! Prepare the tofu in the way that you like. I heated it for about 5 minutes in the air fryer to firm it up.
Once the broth has simmered for an hour, get another large stock pot ready and place a strainer over the top. Strain the broth into the new pot. You can save the cremini mushrooms from the broth vegetables to use in the soup. The remaining broth vegetables can be composted.
To assemble, add two generous tablespoons of tare to your bowl. Add a ladle of broth to the tare. Use a chopstick to mix the tare and the broth until combined. Add a few more ladles of broth to the bowl. Add the desired amount of noodles to the broth. Arrange your toppings. Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi. Enjoy!
Leftover broth can be refrigerated or frozen.
Serves 6 as an entree.
