RAMEN TOPPINGS
Taking a closer look at the secrets of : RAMEN TOPPINGS
Like in many other cities, ramen is hugely popular here in Melbourne.
Whether it’s tonkotsu, shoyu, miso or other unique soups, these days you can enjoy an array of different flavours.
However, while the soup and noodles are indeed the life of the dish, this time we’re looking at the common toppings that both decorate and enhance the ramen.
By learning the often unknown charms of these ingredients, we’re sure you’ll fall even further in love with ramen.
CHASHU
The king of essential ramen toppings. It’s not going too far to say that you can judge a restaurant’s ramen by its chashu. Originally, chashu referred to Chinese fried pork, but these days the cooking technique is very different and chashu commonly refers to simmered pork.
MENMA
Did you know that menma is originally a Chinese processed food made via lactic fermentation?
Called machiku in Mandarin, it uses a type of bamboo shoot, and when sold in Chinatowns in Japan after the second world war, it became known as ‘shinachiku’, thanks to a mash-up of ‘shina’ (for Sina or China) and ‘chiku’, which is another reading of the character ‘take’ or bamboo.
Later, after it started being used in ramen, the product started to be called menma – a mix of men (noodles) and machiku.
Soon after that, in 1968, a company called Momoya started selling a product called Ajitsuke Menma (flavoured menma), which became really popular and it thus became an indispensable ramen topping.
NEGI
In Japan, people get really worked up over negi (a type of Welsh onion), to the point where there’s a big split between white and green negi fans, and some restaurants create ramen with so much negi you can’t see the noodles.
Negi helps add depth to the soup (hence the passion) and also helps decorate the dish.
NORI
Not just for presentation, nori also adds flavour to the meal. Whether you eat it with the noodles, or enjoy it by itself for the crunchy texture or seaside aromas, there are numerous ways to eat nori. Why not try finding your own unique way of enjoying it?
NARUTO
Cute and vibrant in appearance, naruto is made using steamed fish paste. Its current appearance dates back to the late Edo period and, according to historical documents, it originally accompanied soba.
Somehow, it eventually became used in ramen and the rest is history. The name naruto comes from the fact it looks like the whirlpools you can see in the Naruto Strait in Shikoku prefecture.
AJITSUKE TAMAGO
Usually shortened to ‘ajitama’, these shining, golden eggs are soft boiled then marinated in sauce to absorb the flavour. Each restaurant often has its own original sauce so it’s worth checking out the subtle differences between them. There are plenty of recipes for these online too, so you can try making them at home if you like.
It’s worth noting that toppings often change depending on the region, too. For example, in Hokkaido, where they favour a miso soup base, they pair it with a knob of butter or some corn. In Kyushu, where tonkotsu is king, they add red pickled ginger or takana (mustard leaf), while in Tokyo, which favours shoyu ramen, spinach is the most common vegetable topping.
Recently, moyashi (bean sprouts) have become popular, and apparently some restaurants are piling those onto their dishes in the same way as negi, too.