Vegan ramen with smoked tofu

Umami heaven. A rich, savoury broth topped with perfectly seasoned veggies and tofu.

A lack of meat doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to complex, flavourful broths. This recipe uses a mixture of dried and fresh mushrooms to pack plenty of meaty, umami taste, enhanced by the much-maligned MSG. If you’re still under the impression MSG is somehow bad for you please watch this video and be prepared to level up your broths and stews from now on!

The broth is the real star of the show here and will take up most of the cooking time. With this in mind, I used smoked tofu which can be pan-fried out of the packet and still taste delicious. The crunchy spring onions and miso-vinegar glazed carrots and greens round off the dish but it’s still heavily customisable. Please check the notes to see any recommended modifications and cooking suggestions.

Although the broth needs time to develop, it can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge for a mid-week meal that will take around 30 mins to finish. If you don’t want to make it in advance, the slow cooker is your friend!

Vegan Smoked Tofu Ramen

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Yield: 2

Author: Gemma Tomlinson

prep time: 3 hourcook time: 40 Mtotal time: 3 H & 40 M

ingredients:

Broth

• 3 cups vegetable stock/broth (see notes) 
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp white miso paste
• 2tsp rice vinegar
• 1/4-1/2 cup dried mushrooms (shiitake, oyster etc - see notes) 
• 1 cup sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms (approx 4 medium mushrooms)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 thumb-size piece of fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp MSG  (optional, see notes) 
• 1 tsp seaweed flakes  (optional, see notes)
• 2 servings noodles of your choice

Toppings

• 1 pack smoked tofu (around 200-250g)
• 3 carrots
• 2 heads bok choy/pak choi
• 3-4 spring onions/scallions
• sesame seeds

Marinade

• 1 tbsp white miso paste
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

instructions:

How to cook Vegan Smoked Tofu Ramen

Broth

1. Heat a large dutch oven or pot and add the sesame oil.
2. Crush the cloves of garlic and grate or finely slice the fresh ginger, adding to the pot.
3. Simmer until the garlic releases it's flavour and is lightly browned.
4. Add in the 3 cups of vegetable stock/broth and the rest of your broth ingredients (soy sauce, miso paste, vinegar, dried and fresh mushrooms, MSG and seaweed flakes).
5. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring to ensure all ingredients are combined.
6. Place a lid on your pot and cook on a low heat, checking occasionally for up to 3 hours. I would give the broth at least 1.5 hours and I would say 3 is the optimal time to allow the flavours to develop.
7. When ready to serve, taste and add the cup of water as needed. This will depend greatly on the brand of veggie stock you use, if yours is homemade, if you use a concentrated stock paste or bouillon etc. You may find your broth is very concentrated and needs diluting with the full cup of water or it may not need diluting at all.
8. This broth can be cooked in advance and left in the fridge overnight or for a couple of days. Alternatively you can use a slow cooker and leave it simmering throughout the day. Once you have made your broth the rest of the meal takes about 30 mins to put together.

Toppings & Assembly

1. Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Chop the spring onions and leave to one side with the sesame seeds ready to top the finished bowl.
3. Chop off the bottom root end of the bok choy so the leaves and stems separate and leave to one side to cook at the end of the recipe.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the white miso paste, rice vinegar and maple syrup.
5. Peel the carrots and slice diagonally, about 1/2 cm in thickness.
6. Toss the chopped carrots in the marinade, then place on a baking tray and into the pre-heated oven for 30 mins, flipping half way through the cooking time.
7. There should be some marinade left over for the bok choy, keep this to one side.
8. Fill a pan with water and cook your noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain and leave to one side for assembly.
9. Slice the block of smoked tofu and cook in a pan on both sides until golden brown. If you have a good non-stick pan you can do this dry with no oil, but otherwise you can use a little extra sesame oil to prevent it from sticking.
10. Place your tofu on a plate and cover to keep warm, then using the pan it cooked in, add the bok choi and the remaining marinade. Quickly pan-sear for one minute on each side until tender.
11. To assemble the bowl, add your noodles and cover with broth. Top with pan-fried tofu, roasted carrots, pan-seared bok choi, chopped spring onion and sesame seeds.

NOTES:

This is a very savoury, umami dish, but the resulting flavour may vary based on the stock you use. I use a concentrated paste and add to water, but bouillon powders and stock cubes may be more subtle in flavour. Taste along the way and feel free to adapt the water content/strength to suit your tastes.

Any dried mushrooms will work for this dish. I found the most common blend in most supermarkets was shiitake, oyster and porcini. As mentioned above, depending on the strength of your stock you may wish to use 1/4 cup dried mushrooms or 1/2 cup for a richer taste.

MSG is nothing to be feared! It adds such great depth to dishes and brings out the rich umami flavour or the mushrooms. You can get this in Chinese supermarkets and on Amazon. I even add it to my mashed potato!

Seaweed flakes may be tricky to get hold of so feel free to sub in nori sheets ground up in a food processor or pestle and mortar.

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