Low Carb Ramen Noodles

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In Australia it’s the perfect weather for a heart warming bowl of ramen noodles. This delicious recipe is true to traditional Japanese flavours but is sugar free and uses shirataki/konjac noodles, which makes it perfect for anyone watching their carb intake.

While the recipe features a short cut for cooking the pork (chicken or beef) for this recipe, make sure you check out the additional Chashu rolled pork belly recipe at the bottom if you have a bit more time on your hands and want to make ramen served with traditional Chashu pork. The short cut version is great for a busy weeknight meal and it’s a recipe the whole family are going to love. Feel free to use traditional Udon noodles in this recipe or zucchini noodles if you can’t source konjac noodles.

Ingredients

Ramen Meat Ingredients

400 grams Pork fillet beef fillet or chicken thigh or breast fillet-see recipe below for more traditional Chashu pork recipe
Salt and pepper- a generous amount
1 tablespoon sesame oil or EVOO extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon tamari
1 teaspoon erythritol or monkfruit
¼ cup water

Ramen Broth

1 litre quality chicken stock/broth vegetable, pork or beef stock
3 tablespoons red or white miso or 2 single serve sachets of concentrated miso soup
200 grams shitake mushrooms- stems removed and sliced. Switch for in season mushrooms of choice
4 stalks spring onions thinly sliced - retain 3 tablespoons of greens for garnish
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes or crushed red pepper or fresh chopped chili to taste
4 tablespoons tamari
2 tablespoons ACV- apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon monkfruit, erythritol or sweetener of choice to taste
4 Baby bok choy, kale or other Asian greens
4 packets of shirataki/konjac noodles or fresh/dried ramen noodles for carb lovers
Spring onion sliced finely for garnish

RAMEN TOPPING OPTIONS

4 Boiled eggs
Shredded nori
Dried Chili
Sesame seeds
Enoki mushrooms
Bean sprouts
Chili garlic oil
Shichimi Togarashi
Additional tamari if desired

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Boil Your Eggs

See method below for how to cook boiled eggs to soft/medium/hard or use your favorite cooking method. This can be done well in advance and eggs can be stored in the fridge.
Method-cover the tops of 4 eggs with cold water in a small saucepan and bring to a rapid boil. Turn the heat off after they have come to the boil and put the lid on immediately. Leave the pan to sit with the lid on for a further 8 minutes for soft-10 minutes for medium or 12 minutes for hard boiled eggs. Pour off water and plunge eggs into ice cold water. Allow to sit for 10 minutes in cold water. Peel eggs and cut in half to serve. Eggs can be allowed to cool as they will heat up in the broth when served.

Prepare Your Meat

Season your meat of choice well with salt and pepper. Heat a mid sized saucepan to medium high, add the oil and sear the meat on all sides to seal. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes, turning every minute before adding the tamari, sweetener and water to the pan. Immediately place the lid back on the saucepan and turn the temperature down to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the meat has cooked through in the centre.
Remove the meat from the pan, cover it with aluminium foil and allow to rest while making the broth. Leave the juices in the saucepan to use to make your ramen broth.

Make Your Ramen Broth

Place the chicken stock/broth, miso paste/miso soup concentrate, mushrooms, spring onions, ginger, garlic, chili (if using), tamari and sweetener to the pot you seared the meat in. Stir and cover the pot with a lid. Allow it come to boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Taste the broth and season with salt and pepper if required.
Add the whole Bok Choy to the ramen broth and simmer for about 4 minutes or zap in the microwave for 2-3 minutes until soft and wilted but still green.
While the bok choy is cooking, drain the shirataki noodles in a colander, discarding the liquid the noodles came in. Just before serving, pour boiling water over the noodles in the colander and allow to drain again. If using traditional ramen noodles for carb lovers cook as per instructions and drain- note that more time is needed to cook traditional noodles . Divide the drained noodles amongst 4 large soup bowls.
Divide the ramen broth between the four bowls, placing a wilted bok choy bunch on top of each ramen noodle bowl.
Cut the meat into thick slices and divide evenly among the noodle bowls. Sprinkle each bowl with chopped spring onions/green onions and place 2 egg halves into each bowl. Add other toppings as desired such as enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts, sesame seeds, chili flakes, chili oil and/or Shichimi Togarashi. Additional tamari can also be added if desired.

Additional Recipe for Chashu- Rolled Pork Belly

1kg Pork Belly EVOO-olive oil to pan fry ¼ cup erythritol or sweetener of choice ¼ cup tamari ½ cup of water 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1 teaspoon minced ginger
Source a thin piece of pork belly with a balanced amount of fat to meat about 1kg/2 lbs in weight. Tenderise it with a mallet and roll it up with string into a tight roll.
Season the the pork belly really well with salt and pepper. Heat a large frying pan with a lid, on high and add a dash of sesame oil or EVOO-extra virgin olive oil. Panfry the pork in the hot oil to sear all of the edges.
Add enough water to cover the pork belly and simmer gently with the lid on for about 1 hour. Remove the stock and reserve/freeze to use to in your ramen broth.
Add ¼ cup erythritol or monkfruit/sweetener of choice, ¼ cup tamari, ½ cup water, 2 teaspoons minced garlic and 1 teaspoon minced ginger to the pan stirring well to combine. Baste the pork belly with the sauce, place the lid on and turn the heat down to it's lowest point. Simmer gently simmer for one hour, rotating the pork every 15 minutes.
Turn the temperature off and allow the pork to continue to slowly cook with the lid on. Allow the pork to cool down before wrapping in cling wrap and refrigerating overnight. Slice thickly (about ¼ "/½ cm thick) to serve on top of ramen. Can be frozen to use at a later date.

Recipe Notes

Cook larger portions of meat and freeze or refrigerate for later use. The meat will need to simmer longer to ensure that it cooks on the inside.

Choose longer thinner cuts of meat so that it cooks quickly. Shorter squat pieces will take longer to cook in the centre.

If using chicken, it can be poached in the broth for 20-25 minutes, removed from broth and sliced prior to serving for an simpler option.

Buy thick sliced roast pork or beef from a deli to use in your ramen instead of cooking your own. Poach it in the broth for about 5 minutes to soften just prior to serving your ramen.

For a vegan/vegetarian option use vegetable stock and add tofu in lieu of the meat. Additional vegetables and seaweed such as wakame can also be added for a nutritional boost.

Add 1/4-1/3 cup of dried wakame seaweed when adding the spring onions/shallot for a nutritional boost. It needs to simmer for about 15-20 minutes to soften.

Add 2-3 tablespoons of mirin if desired but note that it is high in sugar.

Coconut Aminos can be used in place of Tamari.

If you have pork bones or left over pork bones from a roast, pressure cook or slow cook with onions and added water to create a delicious pork broth to use in this recipe

I tried freeze dried seasoned shitake mushroom crisps sourced from Coles supermarket as a garnish in the recipe above and they were absolutely delicious. The crispy texture was a delicious contrast to the ramen broth. These were so good you could snack on them.

Nutritional Information

Note that we calculate our own nutritional values so they may not be precise. Calculate your own if desired. Carb values exclude sugar alcohols such as Erythritol, as they generally have no impact on blood sugar levels. 50% of the carbs from Xylitol is added to nutritional values. This is consistent with industry practice.