At a glance

The Toppings

The toppings on this peanut ramen bowl are completely customizable depending on what you have on hand. Here are the toppings I prepped, each cooked and seasoned in a unique way!

• Garlic Ginger Seared Marinated Tofu

• Ginger Sesame Carrots

• Garlic Ginger Chili Sautéed String Beans

• Blanched Spinach seasoned with Garlic Ginger Chili

• Fire Roasted Bell Peppers with Sesame Oil

• Salted Steamed Broccoli

• Fried Onions

• Green Onions

• Toasted Sesame Seeds

The Secret Sauce

What makes my secret sauce so flavorful is the combination of aromatics, red miso paste, the best crunchy peanut butter (Laura Scudder's Nutty Peanut Butter), and the leftover sauce from marinating the tofu, which includes some of the iconic Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil (my favorite is the version with fermented black beans in it).

You can thin out the sauce with the boiling water left from blanching the spinach to make a delicious broth for comforting, soupy ramen.

The Ramen

I used the Organic Millet & Brown Rice Ramen from Lotus Foods. These are some of my favorite versatile ramen noodles, but this recipe would probably work well with any type of noodles you prefer!

Ingredients

Makes ~4 bowls

• 5 cloves garlic
• 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 fresh red chili or 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 4 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp chili oil
• 3/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter, or more to taste
• 1 tbsp red miso paste
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• (optional) 3 tsp minced cilantro
• 1 small yellow onion, diced finely
• 3/4 cup green beans, cut on a bias into 1 1/2" pieces
• 3 medium carrots, sliced on a bias and then into 1 1/2" strips
• 8 packed cups of spinach (probably more than that, even!)
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped into 2" pieces
• half a head of broccoli, cut into 3" or bite-sized pieces
• 1 block of tofu (but I recommend using more so you have leftovers), cut into 1 1/2" x 2" x 1/3" slices
• 3 stalks green onions, sliced on a bias, for garnish
• 4 tsp fried onions, for garnish
• 6-8 ramen noodle cakes

Directions‍

1. ‍Prep the ginger, garlic, and chili paste (GGC).
   

• Mince the ginger, garlic, and fresh red chili or dried chili flakes until it looks like a coarse paste. You can add a pinch of salt to help break down the aromatics as you mince.

2. ‍Prep the marinated tofu.‍

• Pat the tofu slices dry.
• In a pan on high heat, heat 1 tbsp of the neutral oil and place in all the tofu slices.
• Shallow-fry them, flipping them from time to time, until they are perfectly golden-brown on both sides.
• While the tofu fries, prep the marinade in a container large enough to fit the tofu slices. Mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, chili oil, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, chili powder, sugar, and 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds.
• Remove the tofu from the pan, pat off the excess oil, and transfer to the container with the marinade. Toss to coat, and keep spooning the excess marinade over the slices to make sure they soak up as much flavor as possible.

3. Prep the the ginger sesame carrots.

• In your pan on medium heat, add 1/2 tsp of neutral oil. Toss in the carrots and 1 tsp of grated ginger.
• Add in a pinch of salt as they cook, for about 4-5 minutes.
• Add in 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds and a pinch of red chili powder.
• Remove from heat and keep aside until assembly.

4. Prep the sautéed green beans.

• In a pan on high heat, heat up 2 tsp neutral oil. Add in the green beans.
• As they start to blister, stir them around.
• Add in 1 tsp of the GGC and a pinch of salt. Cook for 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat and keep aside until assembly.

5. Prep the fire-roasted bell peppers.

• On an open flame, char each piece of bell pepper evenly from all sides. This should take ~2 minutes per piece.*
• In a bowl, toss them in 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil and a small pinch of salt.

6. Prep the blanched spinach.

• Prep an ice bath (a large bowl with water and ~2 cups of ice).
• Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
• Add in the spinach. You may have to do this in batches.
• Let the spinach cook for 1 minute, or until vibrant green.
• Using a sieve, remove the spinach from the boiling water and transfer to the ice bath, to stop the cooking process and maintain the bright green color of the spinach.**
• Once the spinach is cool, strain out the water from the ice bath. Really squeeze out all excess water from the spinach, and as you do so, form it into a loose ball of spinach.
• On a cutting board, give the ball of spinach a rough chop, and transfer to a bowl.
• Mix in 1 tsp of the GGC and a tiny drizzle of toasted sesame oil, then set aside until assembly.

7. Prep the steamed broccoli.

• Using your favorite method, steam the broccoli then set aside until assembly.***

8. Prep the sauce/broth.

• In a saucepan, add in 2 tsp of neutral oil with 1 tsp grated ginger.
• Next, add in the diced yellow onion. Sweat the onions for 2 minutes.
• Add in the remainder of the GGC and optional minced cilantro. Let this cook for 3 minutes.
• Add in the diced celery.
• At this point, transfer the marinated tofu slices to a different bowl until assembly.
• Into the leftover marinade, add in the peanut butter and red miso. Mix well.
• Add this mixture to the pan with the celery and onion.
• If you're making a dry tossed ramen bowl, transfer in 1 cup of the reserved water from boiling spinach.
• If you're making a broth for ramen soup bowls, transfer in 3-4 cups of the reserved water from boiling spinach. Adjust salt or add soy sauce as necessary. If you don't like how chunky the broth is, you can also blend it in a high-speed blender.

9. Boil the noodles.

• In the same pot of boiling water as before, boil your ramen noodles.

10. Assemble!

• Reheat any of the toppings that may have gotten cold.
• If you are making a ramen soup bowl, transfer the boiled ramen noodles to a bowl, and spoon over the broth.
• If you are making a dry tossed ramen bowl, transfer the boiled ramen noodles to the peanut miso sauce, and toss well to coat.
• Place each topping in a different part of the bowl. Be creative!
• Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, green onions, and fried onions!
• Serve hot, and enjoy!

* The quicker, easier way to go about this is to char the whole bell pepper and then cut it into 2" pieces, but if you char each piece individually as I described, you'll get the additional lovely detail of charred edges on each piece.

** Save the boiling pot of water, since we'll use that soon to boil the ramen noodles.

*** Since you already have a pot of water boiling from the spinach, you can also just boil/blanch the broccoli if you prefer! That's actually what I did when I made this.

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An example of how you can assemble the dry version:

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And, if you want to assemble a soupier ramen bowl: