Our signature meal-prep hack revolves around a menu of frozen sauces perfectly portioned into ice cube trays and ready to drop into any dish and send it straight to flavor-town. We decided to deploy the same technique to create a stash of hearty broth starters to make homemade “instant” ramen a snap.
These frozen “soup starters” are concentrated cubes of flavor that you can plop into a pot, cover with water, and simmer into a deliciously balanced broth in minutes. This blend is a riff on a traditional creamy tonkotsu broth, which is typically made from pork marrow, but we’re using soy sauce, miso, and tomato paste to deliver the satisfying umami hit. They’re the perfect flavor weapon to toss into fried rice, a marinade, or, crucially, a big bowl of noodles.
If all you have is a stash of these cubes, packaged ramen, and eggs or tofu, you can make a pretty solid helping of slurp-worthy noodles in a hurry. (Eggs, particularly those from humane purveyors, are on the Cool Beans nice list: As a protein source, their production has less planet-warming potential than anything other than tofu on a gram-per-gram basis.) This recipe is splendid with fresh ramen noodles, but the shelf-stable ones are also perfectly fine—as are rice noodles or even soba if you prefer. For a more complete bowl of goodness, we’re throwing in some tofu, baby bok choy, and mushrooms, but you can use whatever veggies you’ve got on hand. If you have a batch of broth bombs premade, the rest comes together in minutes.
Miso-Ginger Soup Starter
Yield: 15 cubes (3 tablespoons each)
Ingredients:
- ½ cup white miso
- ¾ cup nondairy milk of choice
- 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or liquid aminos
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha or gochujang, optional
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger*
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Procedure:
- In a blender or food processor, process to combine all the ingredients. It should have a consistency kind of like baby food or applesauce.
- Transfer mixture to a small pot and warm over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes to deepen the flavors.
- Remove from heat, cool completely, and transfer to an ice cube tray. Freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag or container for future use.
Notes and Substitutions:
- Since this mixture is getting blended, you don’t need to peel the ginger.
Veggie Ramen
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces fresh or dried ramen noodles
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 4 baby bok choy, quartered lengthwise
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
- 12 ounces shiitake mushroom caps, sliced*
- 8 ounces firm tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 5 Miso-Ginger Soup Starter cubes
- 4 large boiled eggs, halved, optional
- Chile oil, for serving, optional*
Procedure:
- Cook the noodles in boiling water according to package instructions. Drain and divide among four bowls.
- Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bok choy and ¼ teaspoon salt and sear for 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until browned underneath and tender. Divide evenly among the bowls with the ramen.
- Wipe the skillet and return it to the stove over medium heat with remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil. Add the mushrooms and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until tender and browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and divide among the ramen bowls with the bok choy. Divide the tofu among the bowls as well.
- While the veggies are cooking, bring 6 cups of water and the Miso-Ginger Soup Starters to a simmer in a large pot, whisking occasionally to distribute the cubes until they have dissolved. Taste the broth, and season with more salt if desired.
- Pour 1½ cups of the hot broth over each bowl of ramen and veggies. Top each with a soft-boiled egg and drizzle with chile oil, if using.
Notes and Substitutions:
- Save the mushroom stems! You can freeze them to flavor future broths.
- There’s a wide range of chile oils and chile crisps in the supermarket these days, but I like to make my own. If you have the ingredients, it only takes 5 minutes!
