Anime Recipes

Ramen - Naruto

Guess who’s back!  I finally have enough time and energy to make up some more recipes, and what better recipe to celebrate than some ramen?  I got a lot of suggestions for this one, and I understand why.  When I was big into Naruto, those hot steaming bowls of ramen seemed like the absolute perfect meal.  However, back then, I didn’t understand the difference between those, and what came out of Top Ramen packets.  Now, I’m still using the Top Ramen noodles, but I’ve added a lot more traditional ramen elements.  And even if the noodles and stock aren’t 110% authentic, it’s still delicious.  Believe it!

(If you’re really looking for a from-scratch-as-traditional-as-you-can-get, I’m planning on making up that recipe a bit later.  Be forewarned, it’s a bit time consuming)

Ingredients

• 2 Packages of Top Ramen
• About 5 cups of pork or beef broth (You can use the stuff in a box, the stuff in a can, or the cubes or the paste)
• Pork tenderloin
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Baby bok choy
• 1 Green onion
• Soy sauce
• Optional:
• Aburage - that’s those brown sticks on the right side of the bowl, it’s a type of soy product that’s used when you make inari-zushi.  It’s some of my favorite stuff, and you should be able to find it at an Asian food store.
• Nori - I forgot to put this is mine, but it’s those black/green sheets sticking out of the back.  You’d probably be able to find this at any grocery store with an Asian foods section
• Kamaboko - This is that white thing with the pink swirl.  Its made of a sort of fish paste that is steamed into like a cake.  I know it’s kind of distintive in the Naruto ramen, but I didn’t have time to go and grab some from an Asian food store (which is where you’d have to get it).

Directions

1. Marinate the tenderloin for at least 3 hours.  You can use just soy sauce, or a mixure of whatever other Asian sauces you want.  Teriyaki would be good, as would some mirin.
2. Preheat your oven to 450, then cook the tenderloin for 12-15 minutes, or until cooked all the way through.
3. Put your eggs in a pot with enough water to cover them.  Bring to a boil and cover with a lid.  It should take about 10 minutes to hard boil the eggs.  Then pull them out and put them into a bowl of cold water to cool.
4. While this is happening, pour or mix the stock/broth in a pot and bring it to a simmer.  You can add soy sauce or mirin to taste.
5. Once simmering, add the Top Ramen noodles.  Do NOT add in the flavor packets.  Let that cook.
6. Now, we cut up all the toppings!  Peel the eggs and slice them in half, cut the pork,  kamaboko, bok choy, aburage, and green onion into thin slices.
7. Serve up the noodles and broth in a nice deep bowl, then place all the ingredients in groups on top, and add in a few small rectangles of nori.  Itadakimasu!

Hot Pot/Shabu-shabu - Ouran High School Host Club

Mmmmm, shabu-shabu.  Named for the sound as you swish the meat in the broth with your chop sticks, shabu-shabu is probably the best friend-get-together-in-the-cold-winter-and-all-eat food I’ve ever encountered.  And anime (especially shows like Ouran) really showcases how it is the friends who you’re eating with that are important.  Either way, this is a dinner meant for a group of friends gathered around a table, laughing and goofing off, and enjoying fun, simple food.  This recipe in particular is meant for 4 to 6 people, but you can easily adjust the proportions to accommodate more or fewer guests.

Ingredients

• A hot pot or hot plate, with a wide, deep pan (this is rather important, because without it, you can’t really prepare and eat the food at the table.  I used an electric wok, because that’s what I had, and while it was a bit too deep in the center, it worked well)
• Thinly sliced beef, preferably well marbled (if there are any big Asian markets around where you live, just look for shabu-shabu beef.  If not, then go to a butcher, or the meat department and see if they will slice some top sirloin to about 1/16 of an inch.  If you can’t find anywhere that will do that, then just pick up some cheesesteak meat as a last resort)
• 3 packages of udon noodles
• 4 cups chopped napa cabbage
• 20 or so shiitaki mushrooms
• 1 14oz block of tofu
• 1 packet of dashi powder or 1 1/2 liters of dashi stock
• Soy sauce
• Optional/Recommended Ingredients:
• 2 packages of enoki mushrooms, or oyster mushrooms
• 1 leek
• 1/2 pound jumbo shrimp
• 2 cups chopped bok choy
• Shunguki chrysanthemum leaves
• 1 daikon radish
• Ponzu sauce

Directions

1. Prepare all of the ingredients.  Cut the base off of the mushrooms (so that the enoki or oyster mushrooms are just barely connected together, and the shiitake are only the caps), and cut X’s on the top of the shiitake, chop the tofu and the radish, shell the shrimp, and slice the leek on the diagonal.  Place all the ingredients onto a plate, and move everything to the table you are eating at.
2. Mix the dashi powder with water as per the instructions to make dashi stock.  If you can’t find any dashi, just use chicken stock.  Pour the stock into the pan you are using, add some soy sauce to your taste, and let it just barely come to a boil.
3. Once it reaches a boil, you can start adding things into the pot.  Let everything cook, then take it out, dip it in some sauce, and eat.  Allow everyone around the table add in whatever it is they want to eat.
4. Party. (Entirely necessary).