Miso Ramen - bringing it all together

This is the pay-off. Two recipes together make one proper bowl: the miso tare carries the flavor, and the braised pork belly gives it body. The assembly itself is quick, because the real work already happened in those two posts.

I won't pretend this is a canonical tonkotsu. This is the version I actually make at home, where the broth is a good stock rather than a 12-hour pork project. The tare does the heavy lifting anyway.

What you need

• Miso tare (about 2 tbsp per bowl, from this recipe)
• Braised pork belly (from this recipe)
• Good stock or dashi (chicken stock is what I use)
• Ramen noodles
• Soft-boiled egg, halved
• Scallions, sliced thin
• Nori sheets (optional)
• Sesame seeds and chili oil (optional)

Assembly

Warm the stock in a pot. Put a generous spoonful of tare in each bowl, maybe two, depending on how salty you like it. Ladle hot stock over the tare and stir so it dissolves into a broth.

Cook the noodles per their instructions, drain them, and drop them into the bowls.

Top with a few slices of the pork belly, reheated in the broth first if you want them warm and juicy. Add the halved egg and a scatter of scallions. Tear a sheet of nori over the top if you're using it, and finish with sesame seeds or a little chili oil.

That's it. Two prep sessions on the weekend, and you get bowls that taste like far more effort than they cost.

If you skip the chashu and just want the miso broth, the tare works as a fast ramen on its own. But the pork is what makes it a meal, and the two together are the version I keep coming back to.